


Taking a Break

by Punzel23



Series: Taking a Break [2]
Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Claire and Neil in Vegas, F/M, Melendaire, Melendaire fantasy, What Happens In Vegas..., absolute smut, dirty - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:49:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 28,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24408331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Punzel23/pseuds/Punzel23
Summary: Claire needs a vacation, a break from all things at work.  She takes her friend up on an offer to visit while the other residents tease her because Melendez will be out of the office during the same time period.
Relationships: Claire Browne & Neil Melendez, Claire Browne/Neil Melendez
Series: Taking a Break [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1827649
Comments: 81
Kudos: 118





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all.... this gets, racy. So I'm warning you now. But it's fun ;). Of course, i thrive off your comments and always appreciate them :)!!

Claire needed a vacation. A few days away to escape and be able to just breathe. Her friend Tasha had sent a text asking her to come out and visit. “We’re doing a St. Jude’s fundraiser, you should come! It could be vacation and doing good!” the text read. 

“Ok. I’m in” Claire laughed. It was short notice, but she could make it work out. 

Entering the resident's lounge Morgan sat looking at a laptop. 

“So… I see you and Dr. Melendez are off the same week. You guys sneaking away together?” she asks curiously

“What?” Claire rolls her eyes. “No Morgan. Stop being ridiculous” she replies annoyed. 

“He’s going to a medical conference, not on vacation” Park chimed in. “Probably figured Claire wouldn’t be here so now would be the opportune time to go to a conference” he joked

“Neither one of you are funny. Do we need to talk about how you both bribed Dr. Lim to get a surgery? Because we can. I’d like to mention also that I’ve never bribed anyone” Claire told them both.

“Everything ok in here?” Melendez asked feeling the tense environment he was walking into. 

“Peachy” Morgan says getting up to leave.

“All good” Park says making an exit as well. 

Neil looks at Claire with a curious expression. 

Claire looks annoyed, “Apparently we both have time off during the same week so we’re running away together” she says throwing her hands up in the air. 

Neil chuckles until he notices the look on her face. 

“I’m sorry. It was your reaction I was laughing at, not, you know. Never mind. Just ignore it.” He tells her.

“But it’s things like that where issues start” she rolls her eyes

“I know. It’s frustrating. We either deal with it though, or we stop being friends. If the latter is what you want or would make it easier on you, I’ll accept it.” He says his face now serious. 

“No, I don’t want that,” she says resting her head in her hands. 

“I see it as Murphy is definitely Lim’s favorite followed by Reznick. Park would probably be Andrew’s favorite tied with Murphy.” He comments trying to make her feel better. 

“So are you saying that I’m your favorite?” she asks with a smirk.

“Me? I don’t have favorites” he smiles and walks into his office.

She knows damn well she’s his favorite, he smirks as he sits down at his desk. 

***********************************************************************************************

Claire met her friend Tosha at the airport. 

“Claire!!!!” Tosha says excitedly as she runs up to hug her. 

“Hey! It’s so good to see you!” Claire smiles. 

“Welcome to Vegas!” Tosha says grabbing Claire’s bag as they walk.

“So, I um, have something to tell you.” Tosha says in the car.

“Oh God. What?” Claire asks nervously.

“We sort of needed someone to fill in for the fundraiser and I might have said my friend could do it” she tells her.

“You what?! I can’t” Claire said her jaw dropped

“Yes, you can. I’ll help you get prepared. It’s super easy. We’ve got two days until the fundraiser” she explains.

“Tosh, no. no.” Claire shakes her head

“Claire it’s for the kids. I mean, if you can live with us missing out on those donations that they need..” Tosha trails off and Claire isn’t biting. 

“It’s Vegas Claire. Vegas. Where’s your sense of adventure?” she asks.

“Ok, fine. I’ll do it” Claire replies closing her eyes sure that she will regret agreeing to it. 

They get to the hotel and before Claire checks in Tosha introduces her to a few people including her boss who she lets know Claire agreed to be part of the fundraiser. 

“Here, let me get you checked in” she says walking Claire over to the front desk and explaining she’s a friend. 

“Ms. Browne, just 1 guest, for 5 nights?” the concierge asked. 

“Yes” Claire nods. 

“Here’s your keys, enjoy Caesar Palace” 

Claire gets into the elevator and heads to her room with Tosha. 

She puts the card to the door and it opens. 

“Holy sh*t” Claire says walking in and seeing the wooden floors, huge room with a separate bedroom and giant tub in the bathroom. 

“I think they made a mistake” she says knowing she booked a base room.

“Good deeds get you upgrades” Tosha winked 

“Seriously?” Claire asked excited and Tosha nodded. 

Claire let out a squeal, “This is amazing!” 

“Well I will let you explore some and we can get dinner if you’d like. We’ll start rehearsing tomorrow morning.” Tosha said

“Sounds good” Claire replied still amazed by the room she was in. 

She and Tosha went out to dinner and walked the strip together seeing the sites of Vegas. 

“This is amazing” Claire commented snapping a picture. For the first time in a long time, Claire felt free. 

The next day she met Tosha downstairs to get to work on what she’d be doing for the charity event. 

By the end of the day Claire was beyond exhausted and beginning to regret her decision to help. “Everything aches” she said when Tosha asked if she wanted to grab some dinner. “I just want to go and soak.” Claire replied. 

She went upstairs and soaked in the giant tub, then ordered some room service since she didn’t have the energy to go out. “Go on vacation they said. It will be fun they said” she said out loud as she turned on the tv. 

The next morning, she was back a practice to get ready. She felt awkward and out of place, but Tosha kept telling her it was for a good cause and at this point she’d be letting people down. She did after all have a super nice suite for doing this. So Claire pressed on. 

*************************************************************************************************

Neil got into the conference; he wasn’t really looking forward to it at all. The only reason that he chose to come was to get out of the hospital for a little while. Had he known that Claire would be taking vacation he probably wouldn’t have gone. It wasn’t a problem with Claire per se, it was that his feelings for her had developed into something more and it had created some frustration and tension between them. 

It was the week when she was asked out by the new guy in the lab that Neil decided to go to the conference. He couldn’t understand why she agreed to go out with the guy in the first place, he was obviously not her type and for some reason it drove Neil crazy. Claire had seemed annoyed with his comments and he still thinks spite is part of the reason she went at all. 

He was here now and had to make the best of it. He checks in at the front and gets his name tag. He mingles with some of the doctors at the welcome reception. 

“Neil!” a voice calls out

“James!” Neil grins. “Hey man! How’s it going” he asks as they hug

“Good! Long time now see!” James laughs 

“How’s the wife and kids?” Neil asks

“Good. How have you been?” James asks

“Good. Not much new. Working” Neil shrugs. 

“Well, crazy things happen here so maybe you’ll get some excitement,” James says patting his back. 

There are a couple of different female doctors who pass along their phone number to Neil on cocktail napkins. 

“At least you know you won’t be lonely” James jokes.

The next day the conference starts early. Neil and James attend the various workshops going on. 

“I remember why I don’t come to this one. It’s incredibly boring” Neil rolls his eyes.  
“I came to get a vacation from the fam” James admits making Neil laugh.

“Hey, there’s a fundraiser for St. Judes tonight, wanna go?” he asks

“Sure. Why not” Neil replies. “I’d like to get in a tournament as well though” Neil grins. 

“Ok, lets skip out a little early today and hit up a tournament. The fundraiser isn’t until later tonight. “ James replies. 

“Sounds like a plan” Neil grins

They skip out of the conference early and James assures he has someone that will give them notes in case the hospital questions anything. They head over to a casino to play cards. Neil hits a lucky streak and has $15,000 winnings by the time they need to go get ready for the fundraiser. 

“You ready, or you wanna stay a while?” James asks

“We can go, better to get out why you’re ahead” Neil replies finishing up his hand. 

They head back to their hotel to get ready and meet in the lobby. 

“Caesars Palace” James tells the Uber driver. 

************************************************************************************************************

Claire got dressed, her body still ached horribly from the intense training she had put herself through the past couple of days. She was nervous about doing this but figured what happens in Vegas stays there so why not. 

“You look… fantastic!” Tosha said giving her a once over. “Like WOW” she shook her head. 

“Ok, ok, I’m already doing this so you can stop” Claire laughed. 

Neil and James walked into Caesars Palace where they walked over to the club holding the fundraiser. 

“I thought this was a St. Jude’s event” Neil said

“It is. Maybe not official or anything but the money they raise tonight goes there.” James replied

“Put on by the Pussycat Dolls?” Neil chuckled. “Leave it to you to find” 

“It’s for charity Neil. C’mon” James mocked offense

“I’m not complaining” Neil laughed as he eyed one of the women that walked by. 

“Ahh. See” James laughed. 

They sat down and watched the various performers in the burlesque show. There were garters on the performer's thighs where tips could be placed as they performed as well as on the waitresses serving drinks. 

“C’mon let's move up here,” James said standing up as he noticed a table closer to the stage was available. 

“Let’s not forget you’re married” Neil laughed

“It’s for charity, I’m not doing anything bad” James rolled his eyes. 

The waitress came over with their drinks and was flirting with Neil as the next performer came on stage. 

The music starts and four women walk out on stage starting out in black suit jackets.

Claire starts singing with the music as she and the other four walk saucily towards the chairs on the front of the stage. Loosing up the buttons on the jackets they toss them off revealing a corset top and panties with thigh high stockings.

_I'm telling you loosen up my buttons, baby (uh huh)  
But you keep fronting (uh)  
Saying what you going to do to me (uh huh)  
But I ain't seen nothing (uh)_

_I'm telling you loosen up my buttons, baby (uh huh)  
But you keep fronting (uh)  
Saying what you going to do to me (uh huh)  
But I ain't seen nothing (uh)_

Neil looks up at the stage and almost has a heart attack. Claire notices him and can’t miss the look on his face. There’s a part of her that wants to run and hide as she’s scantily dressed, and he is her boss after all. There’s another part though, the one that has been dealing with the looks, rumors and feelings she denies that wants to just have a little fun. After all, this is Vegas. 

She walks down the stage as they dance in front of a few of the tables. She stops at Neil’s friend and pauses  
  
_You been saying all the right things all night long  
But I can't seem to get you over here to help take this off  
Baby, can't you see  
How these clothes are fitting on me  
And the heat coming from this beat?  
I'm about to blow  
I don't think you know_

She removes the corset around her waist to leave just the bra on top.  
James reaches his hand towards Claire’s waist when Neil throws a napkin at him holding up his left hand. James rolls his eyes 

Claire tilts her head to the side and looks at Neil with a seductive grin.

She walks over to him and stands straddling his lap singing. She dips her hips down almost grinding against his lap but not quite

_You say you're a big boy  
But I can't agree  
'Cause the love you said you had  
Ain't been put on me_

She runs her hands down her body and can see his eyes closely follow. 

_I wonder  
If I'm just too much for you  
Wonder  
If my kiss don't make you just  
Wonder  
What I got next for you  
What you want to do? (do)_

He instinctively licks his lips without even realizing it. He grips the side of his chair as not to grab her and pull her closer. 

She leans in close and then backs up and can tell he’s intrigued. She holds out her hand and he takes it without even thinking. She leads him up on the stage and sits him in the chair before standing over his legs. 

_Take a chance to recognize that this could be yours  
I can see, just like most guys that your game don't please  
Baby, can't you see  
How these clothes are fitting on me_

She coos running her hands down her side as she turns around and bends over coming back up slowly before looking back at him.

_And the heat coming from this beat?  
I'm about to blow  
I don't think you know  
I'm telling you loosen up my buttons, baby (uh huh)_

The DJ comes on the speakers from above. “Come on, give it up for these ladies, and let’s donate some money for charity! Text GIVE to 78779!” 

Claire continues to dance in front of the chair singing as Neil reaches in his pocket and pulls out his phone to donate. 

_But you keep fronting (uh)  
Saying what you going to do to me (uh huh)  
But I ain't seen nothing (uh)  
I'm telling you loosen up my buttons, baby (uh huh)  
But you keep fronting (uh)  
Saying what you going to do to me (uh huh)  
But I ain't seen nothing (uh)_

She places her foot on the center of the chair running her hands up her leg and Neil follows them closely. 

Claire smiles and straddles his lap, as she closes out the song, pushing her chest against him as she moves her upper body in a circular motion.

_Come on, baby, loosen up my buttons, babe  
Loosen up my buttons, babe  
Baby, won't you loosen up my buttons, babe?  
Loosen up my buttons, babe_

The lights go down and she lets out a breath. The expression on his face makes her let out a giggle.

“F**k” he whispers his hand on her thigh

In a moment of weakness, she leans in and kisses him. It’s brief but passionate. He tries to follow her off stage, but security stops him. 

*************************************************************************************************************

Claire gets backstage, her adrenaline rushing. Tosha runs up and hugs her.

“GIRL! That was AMAZING!” she tells her. 

Claire laughs. “Ahh.” She says shaking her head. 

Tosha’s boss comes over, “Great job Claire!”

Claire smiles, “thank you.” She replies shyly as her adrenaline starts to slow. 

“AND that guy you were dancing with, donated $15,000!” 

Claire spits out some of the water she was just drinking

“What?” She asks. 

“The gentleman you were dancing with donated fifteen thousand dollars!”

“Oh wow” Claire replies in shock. 

She walks to the side of the stage and can see Neil sitting in his chair with his phone and his friend talking to him while Neil stares at the phone. 

“DUDE. She was hot. That could have been me up there if you hadn’t interrupted” James said

“Oh please” Neil scoffed. 

“I’d hit it man, I’m telling you. It’s Vegas and I’d mmm” James said taking a drink.

“You’re horrible, you know that right?” Neil replied keeping his cool and not letting him know that Claire isn’t a stranger. He wants to text her but doesn’t know what to say so he types it out and then deletes it. 

He’s still looking down at the phone when James starts to choke on his drink. 

“What the hell man, are you ok?” he looks over and asks as James points behind him so Neil turns. 

Claire is standing there, and Neil looks her over slowly not even realizing that he’s doing it. 

“Hi” She says nervously fidgeting with her hands. “I just wanted to say thank you for your very generous donation” she said looking down before making eye contact with him. 

“It’s for a good cause” he smiles back at her. “Can I buy you a drink?” he asks

She reaches back and plays with her curls twisting her hand around it before realizing it. 

“Sure” she smiles. 

Neil takes out some cash and puts it on the table looking back at James. 

“You’re not coming back are you?” James laughs 

Neil gives a wink and then walks with Claire towards the bar.

“I had no idea you could sing like that” He tells her as the walk towards the bar, his hand on the small of her back going through the crowd. 

“Thanks. It’s not something I do a whole lot, my friend Tosha had talked me doing this tonight” she laughed looking around. When she looked back at Neil his eyes were glued to her chest. 

“I got upgraded to an incredible suite” 

Neil lifts an eyebrow. Does he ask to see it? Is it inappropriate? Has any of tonight been appropriate? He laughs at his thoughts. 

She takes a step closer, “Wanna see it?” she asks their faces inches apart

He’s finding it hard to breathe, “I’d love to” his voice cracks some as the words come out. He can’t remember the last time he’s wanted someone so incredibly bad. 

“Let me grab my stuff” she smiles as she purposely brushes up against him to get past. 

She comes back out and has on hoodie and shorts over her outfit meeting him back at the bar where two shots are waiting. 

He hands her one and their glasses clink before they take them. 

“Oh! That’s making it feel warm in here again” she laughs pulling the zipper up and down on her hoodie knowing full well that it’s driving him crazy. “You trying to make my clothes come back off” she asks with a smirk.

“I wouldn’t complain” Neil replies stepping closer his lips brushing against hers. 

“C’mon, I’ll show you my suite” she says taking his hand.

They get into the elevator and she considers pushing him against the wall and kissing him when a few other people get on a well. She stands in front of Neil and drops her key card. 

“oh, I got it” she says bending over at the waist and picking it up slowly. 

She grins as she can tell he is holding his breath. 

“My bag” she says bending back over pressing against him to pick up her bag. 

He places his hands on her hips and grips them firmly rubbing her hip bone with his thumbs. She bites her lip to stop from moaning. 

The doors finally open and the others exit. They’ve got six more floors to go to get to hers. She leans her head back on his shoulder and he kisses her neck. The doors open and he takes the bag from her shoulder. 

“Let me carry that” he offers. 

“Thank you” she grins placing a kiss on his lips that he deepens. 

“I’m down here” she says as he follows. She puts the key to the reader, and it turns green as she turns the knob. 

“Are you sure about this?” he asks as she walks inside

She turns toward him and unzips her hoodie slowly and lets it drop biting her lip. 

“Are you?” she asks 

*******************************************************************************************************

He steps inside closing the gap between them quickly as he drops her bag on the floor. One hand on the back of her neck and the other grabbing her ass his mouth crashes on to hers. Her hands work to unbutton his shirt as fast as she can, yanking it off. He pulls her shorts down to her feet kissing her thigh as he works his way up. He presses his mouth against her panties blowing a warm breath on them and she moans leaning back on the table that is in the room. He kisses her stomach, hands roaming her sides as he gets back to his feet and sits her back on the table. She reaches to unbuckle his belt and unhitch his pants so they fall. 

His hands up her breast and he moans as he feels them through her bra before kissing the valley between them. 

“Oh God” she moans as one hand holds her up and the other reaches for the hard spot in his boxers. He moves her hand afraid he won’t be able to hold it in once she starts. 

He unlatches her bra, his tongue playing with her nipples as he lays her back on the table. 

“You’re so beautiful” he says kissing her stomach

He runs his thumb over her panties, and he sees her close her eyes

Kissing her panty line he makes his way down to the center of them and she gasp as her hip bucks towards him.

He grins, knowing she’s on edge, he puts his teeth at the top of her panties and pulls them down. 

“MMMM” she moans as she arches her back. 

She feels his warm tongue on her as she reaches down and puts her hand in his hair. 

“Oh that feels so good” she moans

“Taste good too” he grins flicking his tongue over her rapidly. 

“F**K mmmm” she exclaims 

“So it’s not just your hands that are talented” she says trying to compose herself as her brain feels foggy.

“Mmmm” he hums against her. 

“Oooooh” she slams her hand on the table

“Does it feel good?” he asks his finger tracing her

She moans biting her lip and arching her back.

“No?” he questions “I can stop” he moves back

“No, no. don’t” she says frantically

“No it doesn’t feel good? Or no don’t stop”

“F**k me!” she says 

“With my tongue?” he asks teasing her as he sticks it inside her

“Ooooo” she moans her hands hitting the table again

“I need you to f**k me” she begs “with your d*ck” she tells him

He pulls her towards him and obliges as she grabs his shoulders.

“yes… oooh yeah” she says her nails scrapping down his back.  
“You feel so good” he tells her in her ear as she pulls him closer wrapping her legs around him.

He lifts her up off the table, her hands resting back on it as he thrust inside her holding her hips. 

He twist her nipple with one hand the other still on her hip. 

“Neil” she breathes heavily as her legs feel shaky. 

“F**k” he moans as her legs tighten their grip feeling his release inside her. 

Their bodies hot, sweaty and stick he pulls her towards him and heads toward the bed where they fall on to it. 

“I think we need a towel” he laughs as things feel slippery. He goes into the bathroom and she leans over looking in the nightstand for something she saw last night. He comes out of the bathroom and sees her laying back on the bed with a grin on her face as she watches him. 

He slides on top of her, his tongue licking between her breast and up her neck. 

She maneuvers so she flips him over and is now on top. He looks at her pleasantly surprised.  
“It’s my turn to have some fun now” she teases as she lightly grinds her wet pussy over his dick. Playing with the tip in her hand. 

“Mmm” he presses his lips together and shakes his head. 

Two silk scarves unfold as she drops the ends from her hands. And he raises his eyebrow. 

She ties one end around his wrist and the other to the headboard, letting her chest rest against his face as she does so. 

He flicks his tongue over her nipple and starts to reach with his other hand before she grabs it to place the other scarf on it. 

“That’s evil” he tells her with a chuckle. 

“Oh, I’m sorry” she says making a sad face. “Ugh, here let me fix this” she tells him as she moves up so her pussy is right over his face but just out of reach and she fidgets with the scarf.

“I will get you back” he tells her as she moves back stroking him with her hand

“MMM. I can’t wait” she says her hands now pressing against his chest as she leans in and kisses him, her teeth scrapping his bottom lip

“You already go me once tonight” he tells her and she looks surprised

“Don’t play innocent you know damn well what you were doing in that chair” he tells her

“Hmm?” she replies. “Do you mean when it was like this?” she ask grinding against him

“Ha” he says trying to compose himself. 

“or like this?” she says turning around so her back is towards him and grinding against him. 

He picks his head up and drops it back on the pillow.

“Can you explain it for me?” she asks resting a finger on her lip

“hmm” she says getting up

“Where are you going?” he asks 

She goes into the other room but returns quickly with an ice container. 

Taking out a cube she sucks it in her mouth before straddling him 

“I think it’s pretty wet already in here” he chuckles.

“Yeah, but it’s kind of warm too” she replies as she runs it down his chest. 

“F**k that’s cold” he shivers and she laughs. 

“I’m sorry, let me help warm you” she says blowing a hot breath down his chest. 

He pulls his hands remembering they are restrained. 

She rocks against him again.

“I want feel your warm pussy” he tells her and something about the way he says it makes her want to cum right now. 

She guides him inside of her, “MMMM” she moans as she moves up and down. His eyes watching her breast bounce, dying to touch them. She rides him fast leaning her hands back on his legs and rocking her hips towards him. 

“You feel so good inside me” she moans her hands squeezing her breast. He tugs his hands a few times trying to free them. She begins to ride faster, feeling herself on the edge. He flattens his feet to give him leverage to thrust into her

“MMMM” she tosses her head back feeling sensations through her body and he yanks his hand free from one of the scarves feeling his own orgasm. She falls onto his chest breathing heavily.

“ou” he says pretending as though the scarf is bothering him.

“Oh, sorry. I can undo that” she says with a chuckle as she leans over him. 

He reaches down with his free hand and places his thumb inside her.

“Ahh, I.. um I can’t function when you do that” she says fumbling with the scarf. 

She undoes the scarf and is taken by surprise when he flips her onto her back.

“My turn” he says as he puts her legs on his shoulders and thrust his hips slowly towards her  
As he holds her hands over here head. 

“Faster” she says trying to move her hips to increase his movement. 

“You don’t want it nice and slow?” he asks grabbing her breast. 

“No. I want it hard and fast” she replies in a low sexy voice. He didn’t think she could drive him anymore towards insanity but that managed to do it. 

He holds on to the headboard and gives her what she ask for

“Neil! F**k yes! Yes! F**k me harder!” she says arching her back trying to stifle a scream.

“Do I win?” he asks feeling her body pulsate

She doesn’t answer so he slows down

“Yes” she says frustrated 

“yes what?” he asks 

“Yes you win” she replies needing him to resume his pace. 

He grins and rest his hands on her breast as he thrust into her hard and fast.

“You’re so f**king wet, it feels so good” he tells her 

“Ahhh” she moans “F**K” she says loundly

“Do you know how many times I fantasized about do this to you on my desk?” he asks her, and her eyes fly open as her body feels an orgasm run through it like electricity. 

He falls over beside her their breathing ragged. 

“It feels like I’m laying in a pool” she says living here body up as it starts to stick to the sheets. 

“You did it” he grins

“You made me” she shoots back. 

“We should probably clean-up”, he says with a chuckle. 

“I”ve got a tub fit for two” she grins as she takes his hand and heads that way. 

She bends over to turn the water on and he puts his hands on her hips, entering her pussy from behind.

“MMM” she moans as he thrust into her. 

“Have you thought about this too over the conference table?” she asks seductively 

“F**k yes. So many times”, he says “The conference table, my desk, the sink in the OR, while I was sitting in that damn chair, your stunt in the elevator” he continues. 

“Me too” she replies which only seems to drive him wild and causes him to slip out

“Damn it” he says as she turns to face him, kissing his neck before leading him in the tub. 

“Oh, let me grab some soap” she says as he sits, and she leans over to grab some from a rack almost straddling his face. 

Neil licks her clit catching her off guard.

“Mmmmm, I like this” he says sucking on her pussy

“F**k” she moans dropping the bottle of soap. 

He grasp his hands around her thighs so she can’t step back. 

“Your pussy taste so good” he says as his tongue goes deeper.

“F**k Neil” she moans

“MMMMMM” he hums against her

She starts to rock her hips grinding her pussy on his face. Her hand grabbing a hand full of hair. 

“I could do this all night long” he tells her

“ahh… mmmm” she moans as her legs shake and she can’t take anymore.

He easier her into the water and she lays her head back trying to compose herself. 

“I’m going to get you for that” she says her eyes still closed. 

“I look forward to it” he replies his fingers finding her under the water

“ahhhh” she jumps

“You done?’ he asks biting her shoulder lightly

“I just need a moment” she laughs

The next morning, she wakes up hearing a phone. She looks around when Neil wakes up too hearing the sound. He glances at the clock and sees that it’s 9:30 am. 

“Sh*t” he mumbles and she looks over. 

He finds his pants in the next room and pulling the phone from his pocket. 

“Hello” he answers. “Yeah, sorry.. I um, overslept” he says 

Claire pulls the covers to her chest tightly, wishing she could disappear. 

She’s lost in her thoughts and doesn’t realize that he’s walked back into the room.

“You ok?” he asks concerned

“Yeah” she forces a smile. 

“What happened?” she asks reluctantly

“The conference I’m at had a last session this morning” he explained

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She says moving her legs to the side of the bed 

“I have a buddy there, he’ll sign me in, take some notes and send them to me later. No big deal” he grins

Claire smiles “Are you sure?” 

“Yeah. I told him I was still with the super-hot chick from last night and he said he had me covered.” He says as he gets back in the bed

“He said, what happens in Vegas stays here and that I should fully enjoy it” 

“Hmm. I think that sounds like an excellent idea” she says as she straddles his lap.


	2. Fantasies in Vegas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A continuation (that wasn't quite planned lol). I'm thinking about doing a separate story of back in San Jose. Thoughts?
> 
> Thanks again for the feedback!!!

They ordered room service and spent the morning in bed. No thoughts of the hospital, consequences, or other people. Just the sheer enjoyment of the moment. 

“This is my first time in Vegas” Claire tells him as she eats a strawberry

“Seriously?” he asks surprised. “You have to see some of the sights!” he tells her

“Do you need to go to the conference today?” she asks

“It’s covered.” He smiles

They walked down the street hand in hand, checking out the sights of Vegas. Watching the Bellagio fountains, walking through the hotels. They tried their hand a few different slot machines and won some money. Neil introduced her to a Roulette. 

“Blow” he said holding the dice in his hand

She laughed and shook her head. 

“C’mon. I need some good luck” he smiled

Claire rolls her eyes and obliges. 

He tosses the dice and wins. 

“See!” he says wrapping his arms around her. 

“Building up quiet the stash there” she laughs

“It’s how I made the charity donation. Well, poker winnings” he replies

“Oh my gosh. All of that was poker winnings?” she said her eyes getting bigger

“Yeah, and to think, I started not to leave” he chuckled.

“We have to do the gondolas” he says taking her hand as they head out and towards the Venetian. 

“This is insane” she says as they walk in and she looks around wide eyed. 

“It’s like being in Italy” he smiles

They get into the gondola and Claire looks all around while Neil’s eyes focus on her. 

She catches him and feels a little embarrassed. 

“Sorry, I look like a total nerd right now I know” she says shaking her head.

“I wouldn’t say that” he says pushing her hair back and kissing her neck. 

She leans against him and places her hand on his thigh as he wraps his arms around her. 

“This is nice” she sighs

“yeah” he says holding her and closing his eyes trying to burn this moment into his memory forever. 

They walk through some of the other hotels, checking out the décor and a few shops. 

He gets a text from Audrey asking how the conference is going but puts the phone back in his pocket. He doesn’t want to alert Claire or make things weird, so he decides he’ll just respond later and tell Audrey he was busy. 

They spend the rest of the day taking in Vegas and doing a bit more gambling. There’s a screen that shows a tournament that night and Claire sees Neil eyeing it. 

“If you want to go tonight, you should” she says as they walk

“Hmm?” he asks looking back at her

“The poker tournament. If you want to go tonight, you should” she repeats

“It’s my last night, I can think of other things I’d enjoy more” he smirks

Claire gives a mischievous smile as she kisses him. 

They get back to Caesars and head up to her room. “I should probably go get my bags from my room” he says as they walk in. “If you want, we can get some dinner afterwards” he smiles

“Sounds good” she says wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. 

“I’m not going anywhere if you keep that up” he laughs. 

She steps back and laughs, “Ok.” 

He pulls out his phone to get an Uber. “It shouldn’t take too long. I’ll head downstairs to meet the car and will be back before you know it” he tells her placing his hands on the side of her face and kissing her once more.   
“I’ll be here” she smiles. 

As soon as he walks out she heads over to the closet in the bedroom. She had texted Tosha to ask her a favor and opens up a bag filled with tissue paper from Agent Provocateur. Inside there is a satin Kimono robe, a pink and black corset with matching panties. She held it up and smiled. This was going to be fun. She hid the items under the counter in the bathroom and decided to go downstairs to look at one of the gift shops. 

Neil got into the Uber and decided to respond to Audrey’s text. He sat back and thought about last night and today, a smile creeping across his face. It was going to be hard back in San Jose.   
It was obviously not something that could continue. The problem was, it was not some drunken night where they woke up the next morning in a fog. Yes, they had some drinks, but they were by no means drunk. It was pure pent up desire and Vegas. Staring out the window he analyzed the situation deciding that it was best to drop it until he absolutely had to deal with it. 

He got into the hotel and got his bag together, as he left he ran into his friend James. 

“Hey, you out?” James asked

“Uh, yeah.. moving hotels anyway” Neil shrugged

“Oh really? With you new friend?” James asked intrigued

“Um, yeah.” Neil replied trying to think of how to explain.

“Good for you man. Like I said, it’s Vegas. Live a little. Tomorrow there’s only one seminar and if you miss it I’ll get you the notes” he tells him.

“Thanks James. I owe you” Neil said looking down and taking a deep breath. 

“I’ll count on it!” James laughed, “Have a good time!”

Neil got back to the hotel; it took slightly longer than he expected. There was a guy out front selling roses, so he bought a dozen. As he got to Claire’s room he knocked on the door. 

“I forgot to give you a key!” she laughs as she opens the door. 

She pauses seeing him standing there with flowers. 

“Oh” she smiles as she takes them and smells them.   
“I know you don’t like guys who send flowers, which technically I…” he begins but is cut off with a kiss

“mmm.” He says as she pulls away “I can go get more if that’s the reaction I get” he chuckles

“They’re beautiful and smell incredible” she smiles looking at them again. 

“Want to go down and get some dinner?” he asks moving his bag to the bedroom.

“Yeah, that sounds good. Maybe we can see the fountain lit up too” she says as she sets the flowers on the table.

“I’m going to take a quick shower and change, and we can go” he says opening his bag. 

She walks into the room and wraps her arms around his waist from behind. 

“Need any assistance?” she whispers in his ear

He turns to face her, “we might not leave if you do” he grins kissing her lips. 

“Ok, I’ll wait” she laughs. When he goes into take his shower she pulls out a coffee mug that says “What happens in Vegas…” and hides it in his bag under some clothes for him to find later. 

She slips on a dress while he’s in the shower and freshens up her makeup. 

They head out and get into a steakhouse where they enjoy dinner and then a short walk. It’s chiller out than she expected but she wants to see the fountains at the Bellagio, so she endures it. Neil realizes she’s cold and takes his jacket off to put it around her, wrapping his arms around her as she turns to face him, and he kisses her. They’re so involved in their kiss they almost miss the fountains. 

Afterwards, they head back to the hotel. There are few bands playing around, do you want to go check one out? He asks as they get inside. 

“Um, I don’t know” she says sounding unsure “I’m going to change really quick though” 

“Ok” he says as he sits on the sofa. The tv in the hotel is on with a screen that goes over what is going on at the resort. 

“Did you want to check out that poker tournament?” she asks noticing he’s looking at it intently. 

“No, no. We can go check out a band if you want” he replies hitting the power on the remote. 

“I was actually thinking, maybe we could….stay in?” she says as she makes her way around the couch and he looks over. 

She’s caught him off guard again, which makes her smile. He stammers with his words.

“Um” he blinks looking at her again. “Yeah, that sounds good too” he replies

“Are you sure? If there’s a band you want to see, we totally can I just need to change really quick” she says taking a step back before he grabs her hand.

“Positive” he replies pulling her closer as she puts one knee on the couch, and he pulls her towards him.

His hands running down the satin fabric of her robe, moving to her legs and then up to her waist where he finds the tie. 

“I think staying in sounds like much more fun” he tells her pulling one side of the bow on her robe so that it comes untied. 

There’s a gasp that escapes his lips as it opens and he pushes it off her shoulders. 

“Is this ok?” she asks running her hands down his chest

He laughs pulling her face to his lips and kissing her passionately. 

She grinds her hips towards him and moans as she tugs at his bottom lip with her teeth. 

How on earth someone could be so calm, professional and empathetic in public but so sexy behind closed doors baffled him. This is why men have girl next door fantasies he thinks to himself. 

Claire can feel him hard beneath her and works on unbuttoning his shirt as she makes her way to his pants.

“ah…no no no” he says as she strokes him with her hand through his pants.

She gives him a pouty look.

“I’m going to take this nice and slow” he says leaning back and taking in the sight of her. 

“hmm” Claire says as she moves back and onto her feet. 

“Where are you going?” he jumps up after her. She goes over to a counter where a tray is sitting and removes the cover to reveal some strawberries and chocolate.   
She dips her finger in the chocolate and smears it down his neck.

“Hey” he says just as she licks it off him. 

“Sorry, I forgot I had gotten us a snack” she smiles innocently. 

“Oh” she says as she places her mouth on his neck again and sucks lightly flicking her tongue over it, “missed a spot” she tells him moving back as he puts his hands on her hips.

“So that’s how you want it” he says in a husky voice. 

“Champagne?” she asks as she moves to grab it from the refrigerator ignoring his previous statement. He follows her and pulls her back towards him not realizing it’s to his own demise. 

She’s close enough to reach the refrigerator so she bends over to grab it out wiggling against him. 

“You seem overdressed” she says turning towards him and sitting the champagne on the counter. 

She unfastens his pants and pushes them down with her hands, slowly gliding her body back up pressing it against him. 

His head falls back trying to control the urge to take her now. 

“Seems like you’re overdressed now” he replies unfastening her corset

“Mmmmmm” she moans as he releases it and runs his hands over her breast. He backs up so he can reach the chocolate and gets some on his fingers that he smears on her breast. He proceeds to lick and suck it off as she takes his hand and sucks the remaining chocolate off his fingers distracting him from his task. 

“You are evil” he says his breath ragged. 

“Really? Because you’re saying that with your mouth but the rest of your body doesn’t seem to agree” she replies looking down at his boxers. 

She’s one upping him and he’s got to gain control of the situation. 

He laughs as he quickly scoops her up causing her to squeal. 

Reaching the bed he tosses her back on to it and removes his boxers as he kisses her ankle. 

“I’m going to make sure I savor this” he tells her making his way between her legs and his hands reaching up for her breast. 

She bucks her hips towards his face as he moves his hands down to take off her panties. 

“Where’s that chocolate?” he asks getting up to go back for it

“No… don’t go” she says as he disappears but quickly returns. 

“Hmm… lets see” he grins and dips his hand in the chocolate to trace shapes on her body. 

Moving around from place to place licking it off, making sure to get it all. 

She reaches down and tries to stroke him, but he won’t let her.

“Oh c’mon!” she pleads.

“Maybe I need those scarves he says holding her hands above her head teasing her. 

“Or you could just put your dick in my wet pussy” she tells him in a seductive voice

“You’re not very patient are you” he asks

She tosses her head back as he feels her wetness with his fingers.

“Normally you have excellent patience” he says kissing her neck and rubbing the tip of his dick against her pussy. 

“F**k Neil” she says clearly frustrated.

“What’s wrong?” he chuckles 

She presses her chest out as she groans in frustration. 

“Oh, you want me to play there?” he asks licking her nipple

“Ugh!” she kicks her feet 

“What do you want?” he asks 

“I want you to f**k me!” she replies

“Oh… like this?” he ask as he enters her and thrust in her feeling how warm and wet she is. 

“Mmmmm yes” she moans as he lifts her legs over his shoulders

He feels both of them on edge and slows his pace. 

“Maybe we should take this a little slower, enjoy the moment” he says as he slows his pace

“No. Don’t go slow. Please I’m almost there.” She begs

“So fast and hard is how you want it?” he asks knowing the answer already

“Yes!!” she says as he quickens the pace 

“You feel so good inside me” she tells him her hands grabbing his ass. 

“F**k Claire” he says as he feels a rush through his body. 

“Yeah…. Yeah..” she manages “right… um there..” she instructs as she lets out an “o……..” 

He falls over beside her breathing heavily. 

“You’re naughty, you know that don’t you?” she grins

“me?” he asks with a huff

“Let’s talk about you” he laughs

She moved over to look towards the window. 

“Oh look.. fireworks” she says standing and taking the sheet with her. 

“I thought you just had fireworks” he jokes

“Yeah those were pretty good too” she smirks.

“Pretty good?” he asks as she giggles 

He spins her around and kisses her hungrily as she kisses him back and drops the sheet. 

“Ahh” she says pulling back

“It’s ok” he replies pulling her back to him. “We’re on the 27th floor… nobody can see” he says as he backs her up to the window. 

She raises her eyebrow. 

“trust me” he says grabbing her breast and squeezing them. 

“It is kind of hot” she says biting her lip

“To get f**ked against a window” he asks

“Mmhmm” she replies as he lifts her legs and brings them up to his hips guiding himself inside her. 

“I would have to agree with you” he says thrusting inside her as she squeezes his shoulders. 

“MMMM” she leans her head against the window. 

They hear the fireworks start again and he sees her pause. 

“Oh did you want to see those?” he ask with a suspicious grin lowering her legs

“No, I” she starts to say something and he spins her around and leans her forward some to enter her pussy from behind. 

She presses her hands against the window. “Oh f**k this is hot” she tells him grabbing the window

“You’re f**king hot” he replies grasping her hips tightly

He slips out accidently “sh*t! sorry” he says trying to compose himself. 

She turns “it’s ok” and she moves

“hold on, we aren’t done” he tells her as she grabs a chair in the corner

She places it in front of the window and guides him to sit. 

“I’ve got this fantasy” she begins, and he listens hanging on every word

“of being on the balcony outside your office” she continues as she straddles his lap and takes him in her hand guiding him inside her

“yeah?” he asks breathlessly 

“And f**king you so hard” she says in a low sexy voice 

“I want that so bad” he admits thrusting his hips to go deeper inside her.   
“Who’s not got patience now” she asks as he is trying his best to quicken the pace. 

“I just thought you liked it a little rough and wanted to satisfy you” he retorts scrapping his teeth on her nipple. 

“F**K NEIL” she moans 

“Tell me your other fantasies” he whispers in her ear as she holds the back of the chair. 

“Ha, um..” she tries to think as he thrust deeper insider her. 

“Your desk. I want you to bend me over your desk so bad and f**k me until I can’t take it.” She tells him

‘Mmmmm” he replies licking between her breast. 

“I’ve thought about you stopping me at the glass door, and tasting my pussy as I’m pressed against the door” she says moaning

“I’ve thought about that one too” he tells her as he can see she’s about to lose it

“To have that wet pussy on my face, let you rock against my tongue, f**k I bet it would be fun” he tells her in her ear. She grabs his back tightly feeling an orgasm run through her body and letting out a low scream

“yeah… just like that” he tells her in her ear. “I’d watch you cum and feel it run through your body” 

“Fu… Fu.. mmmm I oh god” she tosses her head back. Between the feeling she is having and his words she thing she could die from pleasure right now. 

She looks at him and can see he’s quite pleased with himself and what he’s done to her. 

“I’ve also fantasized about trying to distract you when you are all enthralled reading a medical journal” she admits

“it wouldn’t be too hard for you to do that” he laughs. 

“Yeah, but how? Would I bend over to pick something up? Loosen up a button on my shirt? Maybe drop a pen on your lap and grab it without thinking letting my hand linger a little longer that it should?” she says watching his reaction. 

“Maybe unfasten your pants, stroking you with my hand… licking you from base to tip…. Sucking and humming?” she says as she sees him swallow hard.   
“Hide under your desk and see if you can keep your composure if someone comes in with a question” she teases grinding her hips towards him

“F**k” he yells grabbing a handful of curls in his hand

They took Vegas even farther than it had gone the previous night, further sharing and admitting their fantasies that previously were kept secret. Returning to San Jose would not be easy, especially with the new truths between them. Tonight though, that wouldn’t stop them from sharing secrets and desires, touches and whispers with each other through the night. 

The next morning, the sun came through the window waking them early. 

“Ugh” he groaned turning towards her

She pulled the covers over their head. 

“We’re safe under here.” She laughed. 

He pulled her closer not ready to let go. Soon his phone alarm would go off, reminding him to check in at the airport. 

“What time is your flight?” she asked the sadness evident

“2:30” he replies 

She nods, fighting the urge to let a tear fall as she’s brought back into reality. 

“We can get some breakfast before I have to go if you want” he offers looking down, his own heartbreaking. 

“When you say breakfast” she jokes

He holds his hand out and she takes it as he leads them to the shower. Taking their time, spending every moment they can. He gets his stuff together and they head downstairs to get a bite to eat before he has to leave. 

Neither speak a word of their reality, or what it all means. Right now, they live in the moment of Vegas with no regrets. 

When Neil gets on the airplane he feels his heart breaking even more the further they are apart. He wants to text her but doesn’t know if he should. He feels the phone buzz in his hand and smiles as he looks down but it fades when he sees that the text isn’t from Claire. 

He takes a breath and opens up the text from James.

“Hey man. I wasn’t creeping I swear, but I saw you last night and snapped a pic to send” 

A minute later a picture came through of Neil and Claire in front of the Bellagio fountains kissing. You wouldn’t know it was them unless you were there. It makes him smile. 

“Thanks man” Neil replies grateful to have a photo memory of this visit.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One last chat for the road... before reality sinks in.

Neil sat back in his seat looking at the picture. The night sky, Vegas lights, the fountains shooting up behind them as her arms were wrapped around his neck and his hands around her waist. 

They would be pushing back from the gate momentarily and he would have to turn off the phone. Before powering it off he sent Claire a text-

“Enjoy the rest of your vacation. Miss it all already” he typed trying to not write the novel that his heart wanted to or ruin the moment by saying that it couldn’t be spoken of once they left. He turns the phone off and sticks it in the bag under his seat, leaning his head back and turning it towards the window the images of their time together running through his mind. 

Claire paced her hotel room, bored and missing Neil’s company. She picked up her phone to text Tosha and see if she was available when a text came through from Neil. 

She smiled, before the sadness set in that the moment was over and she couldn’t hold on to it.   
She replied to his text-

“Have a safe flight, get some sleep when you get home” she responded knowing he’d laugh at the second half. It still pained her some when she read it again knowing that what happened in Vegas had to stay there. 

She texted Tosha to see if she was busy, but she was working. Claire didn’t really want to go out, so she decided on going down to the Casino and checking things out, maybe try her hand at a few slot machines. It had to be better than sitting and sulking. 

She gave herself a $100 limit to spend and went to some of the slot machines. At first, she was losing then she hit a winning streak. Almost two hours had gone by and her phone buzzed with a text. 

“Just got in, hope you’re having fun” 

She smiled, she missed him a lot. 

“Thanks for letting me know! It’s not nearly as fun without you” she responded snapping a picture of the slot machine to include.

Neil waited at baggage claim for his bag as he got the text. His heart jumped a little in excitement thinking it could be her and he chastised himself for it. He debated on responding at all but gave in. 

“Not much is, I know… it’s a curse” he responds with a smirk adding in an emoji with the tongue out. It was just friendly banter after all. 

“I can think of better ways to use that tongue” she replied with a laughing emoji. Maybe she had a few too many free drinks to be texting right now. It was a few too many for her to care though.

Neil grabbed his bag from the conveyer and felt another text. He looks down and reads it. Biting his lip, he shakes his head. 

He gets out to his car in the garage and puts his bag in. He looks back at the phone, he’d like to respond but he had to draw a line somewhere. 

“A phone call wouldn’t though. It’s not in writing like a text” he thinks to himself as he hits the phone icon beside her name. 

Claire had decided to head back upstairs to her room and had unlocked the door when her phone rang. 

“Hello?” she answered her voice a little slurred 

“Hey” a male voice replies to her surprise

She pulls the phone away from her ear to look at the caller id.

“Hey” she says smile “You get in ok?” she asks as she sits on the bed to look out the window

“Yeah” he answers 

There’s an awkward silence where neither of them knows what to say. 

“I, um, just wanted to call and” he starts but isn’t sure how to finish

“tell me I was right?” she giggles 

“No, ha, I um” he stammers “I hate that we have to leave it in Vegas” he says frustrated. 

Claire’s heart suddenly drops, and it feels like she’s falling off a building. She heard his statement but the only thing that stuck was “we have to leave it in Vegas.” She takes his statement as him letting her know that her text took things to far. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have texted… I think I may have had a few too many of the free drinks at the slots.” She starts to ramble placing her hand over her eyes and rubbing them. 

“It’s not” he begins

“It’s ok. It’s not something I didn’t know. We’re good” she says clenching her first and digging her nail into the pad of her thumb to stop herself from crying.

“I should let you go” she says her voice broken

Neil pulls into a parking spot in front of his apartment. And leans his head back on the seat hating that she hurts and that she misunderstood what he was saying, although it is true that what happened in Vegas has to stay there. Clarifying it won’t make it hurt any less for her, or him. 

There’s another awkward silence. 

“I’ll see you at around” she says not knowing what else to say.

“What are you wearing?” he asks 

“Sorry, what?” she asks not quiet hearing him

“What are you wearing?” he asks again 

“To work?” she asks lost as to why he’s asking her the question. 

“No” he chuckles “right now” 

“My black spaghetti strap dress and some wedges” she answers 

“hmm.” He gets out of the car and walks into his apartment. 

“Is your hair up or down?” 

“Down, with a braid in the front” she answers sitting down on the bed 

“Why are you asking me this?” she asks wanting to just get off this conversation so she can find a way to move on. 

“I’m trying to find out what other things would make better use of my tongue. What do you have on underneath the dress?” he asks

She catches her breath at his first statement. 

“a strapless bra and matching black lace panties” she replies as she bites her lip

“You’re biting your lip aren’t you” he says unbuttoning his shirt

“No. maybe” she laughs

“Hmmm. That means you’re turned on” he chuckles “So tell me where your ideas are for my tongue” he requests

“Ha” she laughs nervously

“That spot between your breast?” he asks

“hmm” she says thinking how to keep her composure

“Your neck?” he asks. “Am I warm or cold?” 

“You’re going to drive me to insanity” she laughs

“Like the night up against the window?” he asks

“Neil” she says her a sexy breathy voice

“That’s kind of how you said my name then too” he replies

“Your leg on my shoulder as I kissed your thigh and tasted you. Damn that was good.” He recalls

“I wish you were here to do it again” she says as her hand runs along her thigh pushing her dress up. 

“Uuuh” she says frustrated

He didn’t intend for the call to turn in to phone sex, maybe he did, but he sure as hell wasn’t stopping it now. 

“Are you wet?” he asks in a low voice that makes it feel like he’s whispering it in her ear

“Yeah” she says in a moan 

“Mmm” he closes his eyes and lays back on the bed

“That’s where you want my tongue isn’t it?” he asks smugly, and it turns her on even more

“Yeah” she replies

“I’d love to be there licking it, having you pressed against my face.” He tells her going into details of how he’d enjoy being there with her. 

“F**K” she moans

“Touch your pussy like it’s me, putting my tongue inside you” 

‘Oooh, f**k’ she says moaning

“I bet you’re nice a wet now. I’d love to feel my dick inside you” he says as he tells her how exactly it would happen and what he’d do. 

“Yeah” she says her voice higher pitched now.

“You’re so f**king hot” he tells her, and it drives her over the edge.

She moans deeply sending him over as well. 

They both lay there for a moment breathing heavily and just listening on the phone. 

“I um” she starts to say but doesn’t finish

“yeah” he replies 

“I’m glad you got home ok” she smiles

“Get some rest tonight, I have to take a shower” he says with a laugh

“Mmm, there’s some good shower memories” she giggles

Neil laughs, and closes his eyes. “Yes, yes there are. Ones that I’ll be remembering each shower I’m sure” he admits

“Night Claire he smiles

“Goodnight Neil” 

He hangs up the phone. “How the f**k do we leave this in Vegas?” he wonders tossing the phone on the nightstand. 

Claire gets up to go take a shower. It’s going to be difficult to go back to work and the way things were. She denied it to herself while he was still here, but now, there’s no hiding it. 

Neil showered and went back out to get his suitcase. He wasn’t tired so he figured he’d go ahead and unpack. He pulls out the dirty clothes that were inside a bag, separating what needed to go to the cleaners. He takes the clean shirts to put them away and notices something that was underneath a few of them. It’s something wrapped in a plastic bag. 

He looks at it curiously and opens it to find a black mug with the phrase “What happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas” and he laughs. Inside there’s a note-

“Viva Las Vegas -C”

He takes out the note and sticks it in the small drawer in his nightstand then takes the coffee cup to the kitchen and puts it on the counter. Next week was going to be…interesting.


	4. First Day Back

Neil drove to work and tried to suppress the excitement he felt over getting to see her. He knew that he shouldn’t, but it seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to gain control over the matter. 

“Here we go” he thought walking inside. 

“Hey!” Audrey greeted as she was coming down the stairs and saw him walk in.

“Good morning” he smiled. 

“How was Vegas?” she asked 

“It was good, busy but good.” He replied 

“Nothing exciting happened here last week so, you didn’t miss much. Want to grab some coffee?” she asked

“Uh, sure” he said as they walked over to the café. 

Claire woke up before her alarm and tried to go back to sleep. She wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she was excited to see him today. She tried to talk herself out of her excitement, but her heart wasn’t having it. 

She found herself trying to figure out which blouse he would like best. Whether she should wear pants or a skirt. Would he like her hair up or down? 

“Ugh. Stop it. This thing is non-existent.” She spoke out loud trying to convince her head and heart to be on the same page. 

She grabbed some dress pants and a green wrap blouse and decided she’d wear a simple ponytail. 

***********************************************************************

Coming out they heard a loud boom of thunder and the sky opened up and rain came pouring down. They looked outside the large glass windows of the hospital lobby.

“Damn” Audrey says her eyes widening

“Seriously! I’d hate to be walking in that” he shakes his head as he takes a sip of his coffee. 

There are people rushing in out of the rain as they stand to the side and watch for a moment. 

“I didn’t even see that it was supposed to rain today” Audrey comments still looking out. 

They see a woman coming up the stairs, she doesn’t seem to be rushing when another person comes past her and causes her to slip. They don’t stop to see if she’s ok they just run to get out of the rain. 

“What the?” Neil asks as he sees it happen and hands Audrey his coffee as he runs out into the rain. 

It’s coming down hard making it hard to even see but he makes he way over to the woman as quickly as possible. 

“Are you ok?” He asks getting to her

“I’m fine, I just slipped” she says, and he realizes it’s Claire. 

“C’mere let me help you” he says holding her arm and helping her up . 

“I’m fine, you don’t need to get any wetter” she protests telling him to go ahead. 

He stays by her and helps her inside. 

“Dr. Browne!” Audrey calls out. “Are you ok?” she asks concerned

“I’m fine. Really” she says standing there soaked. 

“I’m sorry you got drenched” she says looking at Neil. 

“I didn’t realize it was supposed to rain this morning and didn’t have my umbrella on me. By the time I got close I was already soaked and didn’t see the point in running and possibly slipping. I guess you see how that worked out for me” she laughed. 

“I am so sorry” Audrey replied as she handed them both a towel that she grabbed when Neil ran out. 

“Thanks” Claire smiled. 

“We should check and make sure that you’re ok” Audrey instructed as her pager went off. 

“I’m fine, other than looking like a wet dog anyway” Claire said trying to brush it off. 

“I’ll make sure she’s checked” Neil responded   
“Thanks” Audrey smiled and headed up stairs. 

“This is so embarrassing” Claire shook her head. 

Neil hears her but doesn’t respond as he is distracted by the wet fabric clinging to her body.

She looks up to see Neil looking at her and blushes as she clears her throat.

He realizes he’s probably been caught and chuckles. “I uh, promised I’d check you out” he says as as soon as the words leave his mouth he realizes how it sounds. “I mean, you know, I want to make sure you’re ok” he says backtracking.

Claire laughs. “Guess it’s scrubs today!” she says changing the subject. 

“Here’ let me get you over to a room and then I’ll grab scrubs for you” he says leading her down a hall to a conference room that is rarely used. 

“I can get them” she says but he declines. 

They get into the room and he sees all the furniture is cloth, so he leads her to the table and lifts her up on it. 

She looks up at him surprised as she pushes her hair from her face. 

“It was the only surface not cloth” he shrugs with a small smile

“Oh” she says looking down quickly and chastising herself for letting her brain go there. 

He can see the look in her eye and hear the disappointment in her voice. 

“Claire” he says as she closes her eyes briefly before turning to look. 

There’s a million thoughts running through her head including that he’s going to tell her that what happened in Vegas must stay there and he’s losing confidence that she’ll be able to do that. 

She turns towards him and feels his warm lips on hers, not realizing until now just how cold she was. The taste of black coffee tasted better on his lips that it did on her own. Her hands now against his chest feeling his soaked shirt. 

He breaks the kiss running his hand down her hair. 

He steps back and locks the door to the conference room, and she lifts and eyebrow.

“So you can change” he says re-thinking what he just did

“That’s very thoughtful. But I don’t have any clothes” she says walking towards him.

“Oh. Yeah” he pushes his lips together. 

“You probably shouldn’t be in these wet clothes either” she says reaching up to undo a button. 

He has to stop this, and he knows it. He doesn’t want to, but there are lines that he shouldn’t be crossing. 

“I should go get those scrubs real quick” he says moving back

Claire nods not sure of what to say. She knows they shouldn’t, but it feels so right. If only she hadn’t said anything maybe he wouldn’t have re-thought it. She feels her heart breaking but she’s determined to compose herself before he gets back. 

A few minutes later he knocks before entering and then comes inside. “I grabbed these” he says as he sets down a set of scrubs and some socks with grips. 

She nods but doesn’t make eye contact. 

“Claire, I” he begins as he puts his hand on her arm and she relaxes and feels like she melts when he says her name.

“want you so bad” he finishes. It wasn’t what he planned on saying. He was supposed to   
apologize. 

She looks up and kisses him leading him back towards the table unwrapping her shirt as he moves it off her shoulders. She then works on his buttons to remove his shirt. 

“People are going to start looking for us soon” she says in between kisses

“And that has nothing to do with you liking it fast and hard?” he whispers in her ear as she leans her hands back on the table. 

“Oh you feel so good” she moans as her hand runs down his back.

She presses her face into the crook of his neck to prevent herself from letting a loud moan escape her lips and he presses her closer to him. Their bodies sweaty and tangled he reaches over for one of the towels so they can clean themselves off. 

They get dressed and before he opens the door he pulls her close one more time to kiss her. “Just once more” he smiles   
She goes to grab a coffee and grab an extra pair of sneakers from her locker to avoid walking to the lounge at the same time as him. 

*****************************************************************************


	5. Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reality of the situation sets in

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the comments and feedback :). Sorry, this has taken so long it's been re-written more times than I can count at this point. While many people see Claire going into trauma, I think that part of her wanting to work with Melendez is her interest in cardiothoracic surgery which is why she made a big deal of being taken off his service.
> 
> Also, fun fact (lol) I started watching New Amsterdam the other night and there was a mention of how few female cardiothoracic surgeons there are (5% of the total) and how there are even fewer Black female surgeons. So, I decided to look it up out of my own curiosity, and according to Google, there are only 6 (2016 statistic which was the most recent i could find). To me, this makes Claire even more of a rockstar in choosing this career option and pushing through. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!!

Neil had a grin on his face that he couldn’t wipe off. He tried his best to hold it in, but the fact was, he felt…happy. Being around her made him feel relaxed, made him enjoy the moment, and also taught him to be more empathetic. Maybe this could work out. Maybe it will be fine.   
They were professionals and could handle it. 

He was happy with this decision until he entered the resident's lounge. As he walked in, he was quickly bombarded with questions. 

“Do you know anything about the competition Dr. Lim is thinking of doing?” Alex asked

“What are the stipulations?” Morgan inquired.

“When will we know? I need to be prepared” Shaun stated. 

“Good Morning to all of you as well” he replied.

“Morning” they replied in unison. 

“I’m sure you all missed me horribly while I was away, how did the rest of your week go?” he asked purposely not diving into their question. 

Morgan shared her Emergency Room story of a guy how almost severed his foot with a lawn mower which was the most eventful thing that happened while Melendez was out. 

Claire walked into the lounge as Morgan was finishing up her story. 

“Dr. Browne, good morning. The other residents were just catching me up on the events of last week.” 

“How was your vacation Claire?” Morgan asked

“Good” Claire nodded not giving much away. 

“Do anything exciting?” Alex asked

“Mostly just hung around, you know” Claire said passively. 

Neil smiled and tried his best not to stare. 

“Good Morning” Audrey said walking in

“Morning” Neil greeted

“Since everyone is here, I wanted to meet with you. Last week I mentioned the possibility of a resident challenge and wanted to give you the details.” Audrey said

Neil sat back and listened to the details; arms crossed. This was going to turn into a giant pain.   
After she finished, the Residents got to work, and Audrey stayed behind. 

“You don’t look happy” she said looking at Neil who just shrugged in reply.

“Just say what you want to say” she replied holding her hands out

“You know I hate these things. Especially with this group of very ambitious residents” he replies 

“But the focus is on patient care and research” she explains

“You’re the chief” he responds

Audrey rolled her eyes and left. Neil sat back at his desk. Claire always excelled at things especially patient care and her research papers had become very detailed and insightful. Her communication skills definitely gave her an advantage over the others. If anyone found out about them, it would be the first boulder thrown. Neil leaned his elbows on the desk. “About us” he shook his head. Technically there was not an “us” and Vegas was supposed to be a one-time thing. That obviously proved to be wrong this morning and she seemed to have the same feelings that he did. This, whatever it was, could sideline her career and because he knew better, it would be his fault. 

He was brought out of his thoughts by a light knock on the door. Looking up he sees Claire.

“Hey, can you take a look at this scan?” she asks walking towards him. 

“Yeah, of course” he smiles as he gets up and walks around the desk.

“You ok?” she asks noticing his demeanor

“Yeah, I’m fine” he says looking the scans over. 

“Do you see the abnormality on the left?” she asks leaning closer without realizing it. 

“Um, yeah” he says zooming in trying not to be distracted by her close proximity. 

“Get a full panel workup, and let’s do an MRI as well” he replies 

“Blood work is in the lap and I’ll schedule the MRI.” She says taking the tablet back. 

“Always ahead of the game” Neil chuckles

“About this morning...” she begins nervously

Neil feels his heart beating faster as though it is about to pound out of his chest.

“We probably shouldn’t have” he says looking down and holding his breath

“But it was good” she replies unsure of how this will go but needing him to know that she wanted it. 

He looks at her and smiles. “I won’t deny that, but I’m your boss and we can’t…” he says not able to finish the sentence. 

Claire nods and he can almost see the walls come up around her as he feels his own heart plummet. 

“I’ll get this MRI scheduled” she says as she quickly exits. 

She walks down the hall and exits at the stairwell leaning against the wall. 

“Oh this hurts” she thinks as a tear runs down her cheek. Regardless of how much she tried not to be emotionally invested she was. Maybe her mother was right, no one would truly love her. Neil didn’t seem to mind in Vegas that he was her boss. Actually, he didn’t seem to mind this morning either. Claire wiped her eyes and took a deep breath to compose herself. She would get through this. 

Neil walked out onto the balcony and rested his foot on the lower bar. He clenched his teeth to stop the tears forming in his eye from falling. She was hurt and it was his fault. The worst part was he wanted the exact same thing she did, but he knew it would sideline her very promising career that she had ahead of her. He didn’t want to stop whatever it was going on, but she was his resident and regardless of how talented she was, it would follow her everywhere if someone were to find out. 

Later that afternoon Claire and Morgan came into his office with the MRI results as well as the blood panel. Claire let Morgan do the talking and explaining, she mostly nodded and looked on.   
“I think he’s an excellent candidate for surgery” Morgan finished. 

Neil looked over the information. “Do you agree?” he asked Claire. 

“Yeah” she said with a nod. 

“Ok then, we’ll get it scheduled for first thing tomorrow.” He replied handing them the patient files.   
“Thank you” Morgan said with a big grin. Claire got up at the same time and the two exited the office. 

Neil tapped his pen on the desk. He and Claire had been at odds before but never like this. 

That evening as he went to leave, he passed Morgan on the way to his car. 

“Dr. Melendez, I’m glad I saw you before I left. I was thinking about doing my case study on our current patient and wanted to get your thoughts” she smiled.

“That’s fine with me, I’d just recommend verifying that Dr. Browne isn’t doing the same one.” He replied. 

“Will do” she grinned and headed to her car. “Of course, he would have to mention Claire” she rolled her eyes. 

Neil got in his car and pulled out of the garage when once again the sky let loose. Driving in front of the hospital he sees Claire walking in the rain to the bus stop. He couldn’t let her just stand in the rain. He rolled down the passenger side window and yelled her name to get her attention, but she kept walking. Finally, he beeped the horn knowing she couldn’t deny hearing it. 

Claire saw the car slowly coming along beside her and knew who it was. She heard him call her name but refused to look. “Just keep walking” she told herself. When the horn beeped, she looked over out of instinct. “Ugh” she thought as she looked his way. 

“Get in, I’ll give you a ride” he told her pushing the door open. 

She stepped closer and put her hand on the door. “I appreciate it, but I’ll be fine. The bus will be here any minute” she replied closing the door. 

“Claire” he said with a pleading look. 

She was glad it was raining; it hid the tears in her eyes. “It’s very kind of you, but I’m fine” she smiled “roll up your window before it floods your car” she said as she turned to start walking again. Neil sat there for a second feeling like the worlds biggest jerk. He pulled up to where she was walking and rolled the window down again. 

“Please. Let me give you a ride home” he asked “It’s just a ride home” he told her

“I’m fine, really. This isn’t my first experience being rained on. Goodnight Dr. Melendez” she replied her heart feeling as though it was dropping. She turned and picked up her walking pace as she could feel her throat burning unable to stop her emotions that she didn’t want him to see.   
“This isn’t my first experience being rained on” her words echoed in Neil’s mind. He could read between the lines of what she was saying, and it hurt. It was never his intention to be yet another one of those people that caused her pain and disappointment. 

*****************************************************************************

The next day Claire wanted to call out sick, but she didn’t. It’s not who she was. She got in early and went to check on the patient so she could start getting them prepped for surgery better that than to sit around waiting in the lounge. 

She walked into the lounge and saw Melendez talking to Morgan at the conference table. 

“Oh, there you are!” Morgan said as the door opened. 

Neil looked at her but didn’t say anything. 

“We’re a little behind, so go ahead and get the patient prepped for surgery” he instructed as he got up. 

“They’re prepped, I got in a little early and that’s actually where I was” Claire responded as Morgan looked surprised. 

“Alright then, we’ll get this show on the road” Neil said tapping on the table. 

During surgery Claire was very quiet and gave short answers when she did say something. Morgan went on about her research paper on the patient and procedure.

“Have you picked a topic Dr. Browne?” Neil asked

“Hmm? Oh, no” she replied

Neil looked concerned. 

“You might want to get on that” Morgan interjected. 

Claire didn’t respond, she just focused on what was going on in the surgery. She knew she should have picked a topic by now, she had just been pre-occupied. 

“You want to finish up?” Neil asked looking at Claire she was the one after all who had been tending to the patient.

“I was thinking maybe I could, since I’m doing my research paper on this procedure and all?” Morgan replied.

Claire shrugged, “Morgan can, it’s fine” 

Neil nodded at Morgan and Claire left the exited the room. Neil felt a pain in his chest as he watched her walk out. He watched her through the window as she scrubbed out. 

Later that day as Neil was sitting at his desk Allegra came and knocked on the door. 

“Ms. Aoki, how can I help you?” he asked surprised to see her. 

“Dr. Melendez” she smiled “I wanted to talk to you, do you have a minute?” she asked

“Of course” Neil said standing and gesturing towards one of the chairs. He leaned against the desk. “What can I do for you?” 

“Do you know how many female cardiothoracic surgeons there are?” she asked

“About 4%” he answered unsure of where she was going with this.

“Yes. And do you know how many of those cardiothoracic surgeons are Black women?” she asked

Neil paused and thought a minute. “I do not” he admitted.

“Six.” She replied. “Six, in the whole country” she explained

Neil winced

The annual Cardiothoracic Seminar is coming up next week in San Diego which I believe you are signed up for.” Allegra stated

“Yes” Neil nodded

“I want Dr. Browne to attend with you” she advised

“That’s going to cause some issues with the other residents” Neil warned

“To my knowledge, no other resident has shown the same interest in Cardiothoracic as Dr. Browne, and she has excelled at it.” Allegra replied

“Yes, however they are all very ambitious and it will be seen as favoritism,” he tells her

“Is there favoritism?” she asks

“I encourage all of my residents equally” he replied offended at the suggestion that maybe he was neglecting one.

“Ok then, we don’t have a problem” she replied.

Neil nodded in response. They did have a problem and he didn’t know how he was going to deal with it. How was he going to answer when Claire said she wouldn’t go? It would look bad on Claire and it would be his fault. 

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Morgan and Claire went to check in on their patient. Walking towards the room, Morgan asks what is bothering her. 

“Nothing” Claire replies looking ahead

“Oh please. I know better. You’re always prepared, and you have been off your game. Don’t get me wrong, ultimately that’s good for me but I want to know that when I come out on top it isn’t because someone gave up” Morgan tells her

“I haven’t given up on anything Morgan. Please stop psychoanalyzing me now and let’s get to work.” Claire says rolling her eyes. 

Once they finish up with the patient, they both go to Melendez’s office to update him. Claire tried to think of a reason she couldn’t but couldn’t come up with one and at this point it would only raise Morgan’s suspicions. 

They entered his office and Claire let Morgan do most the talking only speaking up to briefly correct a misstatement by Morgan which was a bonus since it ticked her off. Claire avoided eye contact with Neil for the most part as it still stung more than she wanted to admit. 

“Good work today, both of you” Neil commented after the update. 

“Thank you” Morgan said as she and Claire stood to leave. 

“Dr Browne” Neil called as both ladies turned around

“Can you stay for a moment there’s something I need to discuss with you” he asked. 

Morgan’s eyes widened as she looked at Claire. She’d almost pay to be a fly on the wall as Melendez chastised Claire for her recent behavior. 

Claire stood with her hands folded in front of her as Morgan exited the room. 

“You can sit” he said as he came out from around the desk

“I’m ok, thanks” she replied 

Neil rubbed his forehead. He had to deliver this information diplomatically and then come up with a solution for her.

“Ms. Aoki came to see me today, there is a Cardiothoracic Seminar in San Diego next week and she wants you to go” he explained

Claire didn’t know what to say and this wasn’t the conversation she saw coming. 

“She wants me to go?” she asks confused

“Yes. She said that you have shown promise and excellence in your work as well as the most interest in Cardiothoracic Surgery, so she wants you to attend.” He answered. 

“Oh. Wow” Claire smiled widely. “I um, I’d love to” she replied, the sparkle in her eye starting to show. 

“Great. I’ll let her know.” He said with a nod. 

“Am I the only one?” she asked wondering if any of the other residents would be attending.

“I will be there, but none of the other residents” he replied 

“Oh” she said feeling silly that it didn’t even cross her mind that he’d be there. She remembered him being out this time of the year for the seminar now thinking about it. 

He watched her face and could tell she hadn’t realized that he would be with her and it wasn’t a pleasantly surprised sort of reaction she gave.

“I understand if you feel reluctant to go with me, but I promise you I will do all that I can to not make it awkward” he told her

“It, um, it’s fine. Do I need to make travel arrangements?” she asked

“I’ll let Ms. Aoki know you’ve agreed to going and then I or someone can help you set up your travel arrangements” 

“Ok” she nodded. She should be excited this was a great opportunity but at the same time her heart wasn’t ready for this. 

“Thanks Claire” he smiled, “You deserve this”   
Claire forced a smile and replied “Thanks” almost at a whisper before she left his office. 

Neil’s shoulders slumped over after she was out of sight. This was equally hard on him although he couldn’t bring that up. He sat down in his chair and rubbed his temples trying to ease the throbbing headache. At least she didn’t refuse to go he thought to himself.


	6. San Diego

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! More to come soon :)

Claire spent her evening working on her research paper, she felt it was necessary especially since she would now be attending the conference next week. She didn’t want to give the impression that she thought she could just slack off. 

The conference. San Diego. She sat back on the couch and thought about it. The last time they were in a hotel together…. She closes her eyes and leans her head back thinking about it biting her lip as the memories run through her mind. A low moan escapes her lips as she thinks about it. In the past she had used men to make herself feel better, but it didn’t truly seem to work, with Neil though, she felt something. A connection, a satisfaction, that she had never known before. 

“Stop” she says out loud trying to refocus. This was not going to be Las Vegas and she was setting herself up for hurt by letting her mind revisit what was. 

The next day Audrey’s assistant helped her set up her plane ticket.   
“Let me see where Dr. Melendez’s seat is” Janet said as she walked through it with Claire.   
“That’s ok” Claire explained, “we don’t have to sit together.”  
“It’s not a big deal, I can check really quick” Janet insisted.   
“Ugh” Claire thought to herself. It was a short flight, but Claire didn’t really want to have to sit so closely with him.   
“Here we go!” Janet replied happily. “The seat beside him is open so I’ll get you put there”   
“Great” Claire replied unenthusiastically. 

As they finished up, Audrey stepped out of her office.   
“Dr. Browne, I was informed you’d be attending the conference in San Diego next week”   
“Yes, Dr. Melendez told me yesterday” she replied  
“Since that’s the case you don’t have to do the research paper, the surgery that will be done is going on that next week and I’m sure you probably want to study up some on specifics of cardiothoracic, I’ll excuse you from this.” Audrey explained  
“Thank you” Claire replied cursing the time she wasted and stayed up last night working feverishly on it to get it completed. 

Claire walked to the elevator and waited for it to open. Inside, Morgan was standing and smirked as the doors opened.   
“So, you and Melendez are going to a (air quotes) conference (air quotes) next week” she said rolling her eyes.   
“Yes” Claire nodded  
“Hmm” Morgan huffed  
“Ok stop Morgan. You’re being childish and ridiculous.” Claire replied annoyed. This was the last thing she needed. 

They walked quietly to the lounge. Alex wanted to comment when Claire walked in but could tell by the fact she had an angry look on her face and she was walking with Morgan that this wasn’t the time. Unlike Morgan, it was less about the cutthroat competitiveness and more about Claire’s integrity as a doctor.

Neil walked into the hospital; he was a little later than normal. He didn’t get much sleep last night due to all that’s been going on and his brain overthinking this conference trip. Waiting at the elevator he’s joined by Audrey. 

“So” she pauses, “Dr. Browne is going to San Diego with you” Audrey comments looking straight ahead.

“It was Allegra’s idea. Not mine” he responds even toned

“Hmm” Audrey replies looking up at the floor number. 

“What? Just say what you want to say” he says turning towards her.

She looks at him innocently as the doors open. “Nothing” she says walking inside. 

“You don’t want her to go? Tell Allegra” he comments hitting a button. 

“I didn’t say that” Audrey replies “I was just commenting on her going with you” she shrugs. 

She can tell that this is getting under his skin, which is rare for Neil. Whether they’ve explored their feelings or not, it’s obvious to anyone that there are some there. 

The elevator stops on Neil’s floor. “Have a good day Melendez” Audrey says as he walks out. 

“You too” he responds just grateful to be away from the conversation. 

Walking to his office Marcus walks up beside him. 

“I hear you and Dr. Browne will be going to San Diego” he comments raising an eyebrow. 

“For the annual Cardiothoracic Seminar, yes” Neil responds. 

“We’ve never sent a resident before, have we?” Marcus presses

“It was Allegra’s idea, not mine” Neil shakes his head. 

“But you’re ok with it” Marcus asks

“She’s a good doctor. I don’t have any reason she shouldn’t go, do you?” Neil asked annoyed

“No, not at all. It just seems peculiar... you know, you and..” he pauses gesturing with his hands.

“She is a resident, just like any other resident that has ever been here” Neil rolls his eyes. 

Marcus stopped and chuckled. “You believe that don’t you” 

Neil turned around. “I’ve got actual work to do, I don’t have time for this” he said as he headed towards his office. 

“Actually, I was coming to talk to you about a consult.” He handed Neil the patient’s chart. 

Neil walked into his office and sat his bag down. He glanced over the chart and opened the door to the Resident’s Lounge. 

“How come Claire is going to San Diego?” Shaun asked immediately. 

Claire’s eyes widened and she looked down. Was this really happening? She wondered to herself. 

“We have a consult with Dr. Andrews. Dr. Browne, Dr. Park here’s the patient chart for you to review.” He said handing it to them. Shaun followed him back to his office. 

“You didn’t answer my question.” Shaun said fidgeting with his hands.

“Did you want to go Murphy?” Neill asked

“No.” Shaun replied matter of factly.

“Then why do you care?” Neil asked in not the most professional tone

“I was curious.” Shaun answered

“If it were you going with Glassman, do you think anyone would question it? Melendez asked

“No.”

“Then why is it ok to question Claire going?” Neil asked point blank  
“Because she is a female and you are a male. And because she is attracted to you” Shaun answers honestly as always. 

“Did she tell you that?” Neil asks him

“No” Shaun replies

“It’s not good to presume things, as a doctor or as a person. Keep that in mind Shaun” Neil told him trying to make a point. 

“I’m normally right though” Shaun said before leaving. 

Neil shook his head. If it wasn’t bad enough, he was having feelings about this conference, everyone around him was assuming things already. He did his best to keep his focus and make it through the task in front of him. 

Sitting at the table in the lounge Claire looked over at Neil who seemed to be studying some notes intently. He had barely spoken two words to her, and it felt as though he did everything in his power not to look her way. 

“Did I do something?” she asks no longer able to hold it in.

Neil looks up with a confused expression

“What are you talking about?” he asks knowing what she is actually referring to but hoping she hadn’t noticed. 

“Did I do something wrong or offend you in some way?” she asks 

“No” he replies before looking back at his notes. 

“So, this awkwardness?” she asks trying to understand.

“There’s no awkwardness.” He replies 

Claire just stares back for a moment before replying with a simple “hmm.” 

She knows it’s not all in her head, but it still causes her to question herself. Neil glances over at her as she goes back to researching information for their patient, he knows he probably caused her to doubt herself some but given the alternative he couldn’t give her the answers she was looking for. 

The day seemed to drag on as did the next. It still felt as though Neil was avoiding regardless of him denying it. She questioned herself though, maybe it was because she wanted him to want her she was making things up in her own head. Sitting down in front of her locker that evening she changed her clothes and debated on stopping by his office to let him know she’d see him at the airport. 

“He knows you’ll be there, there’s no point in talking about it… you’ll only look dumber” she thought to herself as she tied her shoe. 

“Have fun in San Diego with Melendez” Morgan said with a chuckle. 

Claire didn’t bother responding, she was so over the insinuations. 

She headed out of the hospital through the ramp to the parking garage. Neil wasn’t far behind her and it took everything inside him to stop from calling her name to ask if she wanted to ride together to the airport or to let her know that he’d see her there. He couldn’t though. It would only make things worse. Instead he lagged behind, and dreaded what San Diego was going to feel like. 

Claire boarded the plane and was sort of relieved that Neil wasn’t on yet. She pulled out a book to distract her during the flight. She was in a window seat and he on the aisle so there technically wouldn’t have a reason to interact. Maybe she should just pretend to be sleeping. The thought made her laugh. “You’re a big girl” she said to herself as she opened the book.   
Neil boarded and put his bag beneath his seat. She saw him from the corner of her eye but didn’t acknowledge him.   
“Dr. Browne” he said with a smile but regretted being so formal and felt silly about it when she looked up at him from her book.   
“Dr. Melendez” she smiled back awkwardly and went back to her book.   
“Great” he thought to himself as his at back.   
The plane ride felt like it took days. Next up was the car ride to the hotel. 

Their ride was mostly quiet. It was a good thing that the hotel wasn’t far from the airport. They arrived at the hotel and went to the front desk to check in. There were two people side by side available so they each went to one. 

Neil’s check-in went smoothly, and he looked over towards Claire as he heard her discussing the reservation with the concierge. 

“It’s got to be there” she replies

“I’m sorry, I can’t find anything. Is there another name it could be under?” the concierge asks

“No” she replies placing her hand on her head. “Do you have a room I can book?” she asks

Neil steps closer, “Is there an issue?” 

“They don’t have my reservation” Claire says still looking straight ahead

“We don’t have any open rooms due to the conference” the concierge replies shaking her head. 

Neil suddenly remembered he was supposed to make Claire’s reservation and forgot. Between Lim, Andrews, and Murphy he was so distracted that morning that he forgot. 

“It’s ok, we’ll figure it out” he says placing his hand on Claire’s back. 

Claire shakes her head and goes over to a couch in the lobby. “I thought they said it had been booked” she says pulling out her phone. 

“Something must’ve happened in their system” Neil replied even though he knew it was his system the problem was in. 

“I guess I’ll see if there’s something close” she shook her head

Neil pretended to look through his emails for a hotel confirmation or information on it while he tried to figure out what to do. 

“The closest one is 15 miles away” Claire said laughing so she didn’t cry. “Awesome” she mumbles. 

“Wait.” Neil says as he comes and sits beside her. “Fifteen miles is ridiculous” 

“I’m not camping out in the rental” she says half joking.

“My room has a sofa and bed; you can just stay with me” he tells her. 

She looks over at him unsure of what to say. Part of her feels like she wants to call him out at this absurd suggestion based on how icy he’s been lately but doesn’t want it turned around on her so she doesn’t. 

“Actually, I’d be fine in the car. It’s not that big of a deal” she replies

“You’re being ridiculous. You can stay with me; I’ll take the sofa” he says getting up and not taking no for an answer. 

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before getting up. 

They were on the 23rd floor facing the marina. Claire entered first and there was a slight gasp as she looked out the window at the scenery. 

“It’s got a nice view for sure” she commented

“Yeah” Neil smiled watching her.

She moved her bag over to the side. “I can take the couch; I don’t mind at all” she told him

“No. You take the bed. It’ll be fine.” He responded in part because it was his fault she was in this predicament. “There’s a reception in a few hours and then the conference will begin in the morning” he told her handing her a brochure. 

“Sounds good” she said looking down at the brochure. 

“I’ll let you get settled in, I’m going to take a walk around to stretch” he said in an effort to make things less awkward. 

“Ok” she smiled politely. 

He left the room and she fell back on the bed pulling a pillow over her face to scream in it. Could she have worse luck? Would it even be possible? She got a couple things out of her bag and checked out the room to waste some time. She decided to go check out the marina and hope that it wasn’t where Neil was. Going downstairs she saw him in the lobby talking to a couple other people who looked like they were probably surgeons. She quickly exited out the side door to the marina. 

She felt more awkward than she expected being here. She was after all, a 3rd year resident and these were experienced surgeons. She walked along the marina lost in her thoughts and before she knew it, it was time to head to the reception. 

She went up to the room and walked in as Neil was putting on a shirt. 

“Oh! I’m sorry” she said turning around

“It’s fine I just decided to change my shirt” Neil replied shaking his head and buttoning the shirt quickly. 

“You ready to head down?” he asked

“Yeah. I think so anyway” she replied

They headed down, and there were several people who greeted him even without a nametag. They went over and checked in. A tall, dark haired gentlemen came over and said hello to Neil and Claire stood back.

“Who is this?” the gentlemen asked curiously as he looked over at Claire. 

“This is Dr. Claire Browne, she’s a resident at St. Bonaventure” Neil responded.

“Nice to meet you Dr. Browne” 

“This is Dr. Jason Riley” Neil explained. 

“Nice to meet you Dr. Riley” she shook his hand. 

“Call me Jason” he grinned. 

“Have you met Dr. Korvac?” Jason asked her 

“No, not yet” she responded recognizing the name as one of the keynote speakers

“Let me introduce you” Jason replied leading her over to Dr. Korvac.

As he introduced them Jason stood back for a moment and Neil stood beside him. 

“She’s my resident and you can’t steal her” Neil joked

“Oh I don’t want her as my resident” Jason responded staring

“No” Neil replied with an eyeroll. 

Claire and Neil mingled with the other attendees which were mostly male, however there were a couple other female surgeons and then a few nurses as well. After a couple of hours Claire sent Neil a text letting him know she was going up to the room so that they didn’t enter at the same time. 

An hour or so later he came up to the room as well. She had taken a shower and put on some pajamas. She thought she was going to be by herself, had she known they were sharing a room she would have brought something a little different than a cami and thin shorts. 

Walking into the room he couldn’t help but notice what she was wearing as she sat on the couch watching tv. 

“Hey” she smiled looking over

“Hey. So, what did you think?” he asked sitting beside her his heart beating faster

“It was, a lot” she laughed

“Yeah, it can be.” He chuckled. “I’m, uh. Going to go take a shower” he said walking over to his bag and grabbing a couple things. 

Claire turned the tv off and picked up a medical magazine that was on the table taking it with her to the bed. 

Neil got into the shower letting the hot water run over him. Leaning his hands against the shower wall he thought about her sitting there on the couch. He thought about the window the overlooked the marina and what he’d like to do with her in front of it. “Ugh” he let out as he decided maybe the water should be turned to cold. 

When he got out of the shower, he noticed she had moved to the bed. “You can watch tv if you want” he offered.   
“That’s ok. I was just reading up on some information.” She replied  
There was an awkward silence for a minute or two before she asked him about a procedure she was reading about and he told her what he knew about it. He stood looking out the window.   
“Damn” he said making a face  
“What?” she got up to see what he was talking about  
“That yacht” he points “is insane’   
“Woah” she says looking down at it.   
On the back of the boat it has “Korvac” written across it making it obvious to whom it belongs.   
“Hashtag Goals” she says laughing.  
He laughs shaking his head. She turns slightly and they are almost face to face and can feel gravity pulling them closer. She holds her breath unsure of what to do. He fumbles with words before stepping back a little. “I guess we should get some rest, we have an early morning tomorrow.” He says doing all that he can not to kiss her.


	7. Frustrations

Neil laid on the couch unable to sleep, thinking about Claire laying over on the bed in a cami and shorts. Thinking about how her skin would feel on his fingertips, how badly he wanted to feel her lips on his. He’d never in his life envied a sheets so much. The memories of Las Vegas invading his mind, every time he closed his eyes it was if another scene flashed before them. 

The last time he looked at his phone it was 4 am. Sometime between then and when the alarm went off at 6:30 he woke up. 

He got dressed and let her know he’d meet her downstairs for the breakfast being served prior to the first session. The elevator stopped on the 15th floor where Jason stepped on. 

“Melendez” Jason smiled

“Riley” Neil greeted. 

“Where’s Dr. Browne?” Jason asked

“She should be down shortly” Neil replied. 

“Tell me about her” Jason asked

“Tell you what?” Neil asked with a confused expression

“What’s her type? Can you put in a good word for me?” Jason replied

Neil was saved from answering as the elevator doors opened. 

Claire finished getting ready and went downstairs. She was uncomfortable and felt out of place but had to push through anyway. 

Somehow Jason found her before Neil saw her and took her around to a few tables for introductions. Neil cursed under his breath as he noticed. Someone had started talking to him before he realized Claire had arrived downstairs now Dr. Jason Riley was trying to reel her in.   
“Dr. Browne, he interrupted as Jason was explaining something irrelevant to her.   
Claire turned to see Neil holding a cup of coffee.   
“Oh Thank you” she smiled widely  
“You ready for our first session?” he asked   
“Yeah” Claire said taking a deep breath.   
As Claire turned around Jason through his hands up and mouthed “Dude! What?” as Neil just smiled. He placed his hand on the small of Claire’s back and lead her into the conference area for the first session of the day. 

If Claire didn’t know better she might think that Neil was slightly jealous about her talking with Jason. It was completely out of character for him, but the past couple weeks had been crazy. They went into the sessions, there was a lot of information and Claire was feeling a little overwhelmed trying to take it all in. As soon as Neil stepped away for a moment Dr. Riley came over and took a seat beside her. 

“It’s a lot of information isn’t it” he said with a smile  
Claire laughed, “Yeah, a little” 

Neil looked over from the person he was talking to. “WTF is he serious?” he thought to himself trying to end the conversation quickly. Before he could get away Dr. Riley was leading Claire away to introduce her to various people. She wasn’t in the next session, and he wasn’t sure about the last one either. 

They had a couple hours between the last session and dinner, so Neil went up to the room to freshen up. He was annoyed and a little frustrated that he wasn’t sure where Claire was and the fact that she was with Jason. He decided to go down to the bar and have a couple drinks before dinner tonight. The longer he sat there the more pissed off he got. 

Claire looked around but didn’t see Neil. He had been busy, speaking with various people throughout the day. She didn’t want to be a burden or annoyance of someone he had to watch after so she spent most of the day with Jason who seemed very friendly and introduced her to a lot of new faces. 

She was standing in a group of a handful of people half listening to them as she scanned the room for him. “Why do I care?” she wondered as she continued to scan. She couldn’t answer the question, but she did care. Finally, she found him. 

“Hey” she said walking over 

He looked over at her, annoyed and tipsy. “Hi, Dr. Neil Melendez” he stuck out his hand. 

Claire rolled her eyes before realizing he was mad at her. 

“You were busy today and Dr. Riley had wanted to introduce me to a few other surgeons and speakers.” She tried to explain. 

“You realize that’s not all he’s interested in doing right?” Neil said taking a sip of the drink in his hand. 

Now it was Claire’s turn to be pissed. Was he really going there? Did he think that people were really that petty? Not to mention how he had been nothing more than icy and cold recently? 

“I’m really tired and think I’m going to head upstairs” she replied simply to prevent herself from saying something that could cost her job. 

Neil sat at the bar for a moment before deciding to go up as well. 

The longer she analyzed it, the more pissed Claire became. She paced the room, undressing as she pulled out pajamas to put on. 

Neil walked into the room, slightly embarrassed to catch her standing there in her underwear. 

Claire turned to see him too mad to realize what she was wearing. 

“What do you mean, not all he’s interested in” she asked angrily

Neil rubbed his temples; he didn’t need to dig this hole any deeper. 

“Claire” he said taking a deep breath

“No. No. You don’t get to tell me you don’t want me but then complain when someone else might” she said her eyes glassy

She went to walk past and he grabbed her arm and maneuvered so she was pressed against the door. His lips on hers, hungry and passionate. Breaking it only momentarily to correct her statement. 

“I never said I didn’t want you.” He replied his body pressed against hers, his voice breathy. His lips making their way to her neck one hand in her hair the other on her hip.

“Really? Because not only did you say we couldn’t, you’ve been pissy with me all week” she pushed back angrily. 

“Claire” he said reaching for her again. She didn’t step back but wasn’t quite ready to give in but didn’t want to fight this either. She removed her bra and walked over to the suitcase to look for a top to put on knowing it was driving him crazy. She stood there her back towards him and tossed things around in the suitcase for a moment. 

“It’s complicated” he says now standing behind her kissing her back. His hand brushing her hair to the side before reaching it around and caressing her breast. 

“It’s not that complicated” she replies biting her lip trying not to moan. His other hand reaches around her waist and he runs his fingers over her lace panties and can feel her wetness. 

“Your pussy feels good” he whispers in her ear. 

Giving in, she turns and kisses him with the same hungry passion. Scraping her teeth on his bottom lip as he firmly grabbed her hips and pressed against her. 

It was less tender and more “Mr and Mrs Smith” a struggle of power, anger, passion, and pent up frustrations. 

She liked him in control but she refused to let him just take it. He lifted her up and carried her over to the bed where they both fell back on to it. Claire quickly maneuvered herself to be on top of him

“What’s the problem?” she asks her hands on his chest rocking against him. “You don’t like it?” she asks.

“No” he replies closing his eyes. He doesn’t want to have this conversation right now

“Then what?” she asks as she rubs his d*ck over her wet p*ssy. 

“I want to f*ck you so bad” he replies running his hands over her thighs

“You sure keep giving opposite signals” she replies

Suddenly he flips her over on her back, his hands squeezing her breast as he kisses her neck making his way to her ear. 

“Because I’m your attending and all I can think about is what you might be wearing under your scrubs. Because if anyone found out it could ruin your career. Trust me though, it is NOT because I don’t want you every second of the f*cking day” he says as he enters her, lifting her leg on to his shoulder as he grabs the headboard for leverage.

“Oh f*ck” she moans. She wasn’t going to give in this easily but damn he was good. “Oh that feels…MMMM” she moans

“I want you. All the time. Anywhere I can get you I’d take you” he says thrusting inside her. 

“Neil. Oh F*ck Neil” she moans

“Neil” she purrs and he’s convinced he’s going to lose his mind completely

“F*ck!” he says as he feels himself explode inside her.


	8. Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The picture that Neil's friend James took will be making a re-appearance shortly :)

They lay in silence, breathing heavily. Maybe because they didn’t no what to say, maybe it was to not ruin the moment they were in. Neither could say for sure.   
Claire turned her face away from him, feeling like she had just gotten off a rollercoaster of emotions and ultimately still not sure of where it left her. Neil could sense the change and felt guilty.   
“I’m s..” he began  
“don’t” she replied her voice cracking as she tried to keep her emotions in check.   
“I’m going to take a quick shower” she said getting up.   
Neil placed his hands over his face. They obviously can’t go back to what was. After a couple of minutes, he got up and checked the bathroom door to see if it was locked. Opening it some he knocks on the outside, “hey, can I join you?” he asks not wanting to overstep. She sticks her head out from around the curtain surprised to hear him.   
“Yeah” she replies with a small smile.   
He steps in behind her, “where’s that Vegas tub?” he asks laughing  
She chuckles and shakes her head.   
He reaches around to grab the small bottle of body wash but it falls.  
She looks down and laughs, suddenly he realizes why.   
“That wasn’t on purpose, I swear”   
“Mmmhmm” she replies as she turns to tell him she’ll grab it he kisses her.   
This time it’s a slow, warm, tender kind of kiss. She presses into him as they stand under the showerhead skin on skin.   
“I love you” he says in her ear as he kisses her neck. He feels her tense up at his confession.   
“I know I’m not supposed to” he begins trying to explain or even backpaddle.   
“I love you too” she blurts out but it feels so good to admit  
He smiles and places his hands on the sides of her face and kisses her once more.   
Turning off the water he reaches out and grabs two towels for them to try off but they don’t stay on for long. There’s no going back now.

The next morning, he’s woken up by a call on his cell. It’s the hospital asking about a previous patient. Claire quietly gets up and gets dressed.   
“I’m done if you need in there” she smiles   
“Thanks. Morgan called to ask a question about a previous patient he thought his had similar symptoms.” He explained.   
“ahh” she nodded not feeling totally sure of what this morning after meant.   
“I know I noted the chart files, so I’m not sure why she called” Neil said heading towards the bathroom before turning around “unless it was to check up on me” he rolled his eyes.   
Claire laughed but it faded. “Probably” she mumbled to herself causing her to think about the trouble they could be in. There was no true winning here. She decided to go ahead and walk downstairs, they tried not to call attention to the fact they were in the same room.   
She knocked on the bathroom door. “Hey, I’m going to head downstairs. I’ll see you down there.”  
Neil was putting his slacks on, “oh” he said surprised “Um, ok” he opened the door quickly, but she had already stepped away. “I’ll um see you down there” he told her as she headed out the door. He had hoped for at least a kiss before they had to go about pretending. It didn’t help that the day started off with Morgan calling.  
Claire walked downstairs where they had some breakfast pastries, yogurt and oatmeal along with drinks available. Jason of course found her shortly after she got down there.   
“Missed you last night, you left early” he said taking a seat beside her.   
“Oh, yeah I was beat. There was a lot of information to take in yesterday” she smiled   
“It can be overwhelming at first” he agreed with her. “What do you think about grabbing some dinner tonight?” he asked  
“I um” she said trying to think of an excuse  
He could tell she wasn’t so excited about his proposal. “If not it’s totally ok”   
“it’s just that I recently got out of a relationship and I’m hoping to clear my head a little here” she said.   
“Ahh. I see. Well here’s my number for when you’re ready to go out sometime” he smiled as he wrote his cell on the back of a card for her.   
Neil saw the interaction as he walked up.   
Claire saw him as Jason handed her the card. Neil raised an eyebrow and Claire wanted to laugh.  
“Dr. Melendez” she greeted   
“Dr. Browne, Dr. Riley” Neil replied  
The talked before heading into the session. Sitting down in their seats his leg brushed against hers staying there a little longer than normal. That afternoon they went and checked out vendors and new equipment options that were being offered. Neil found himself leading her through the crowed exhibits.   
The last lecture of the day was being done by an old friend of Neil’s. He got in a little early to make sure he had a decent seat.   
“Neil Melendez” the man greeted  
“Thomas Harrison” Neil grinned taking the man’s hand.  
“How are you doing?” Thomas asked  
“Good. Very good. How are you?” Neil replied  
“I’m good, glad you made it today” Thomas replied. “You still at St. Bonaventure?”   
“Yeah” Neil replied. “Oh, and this is Dr. Claire Brown we work together”   
“Nice to meet you” Thomas extended his hand.   
“You too” Claire replied  
“I better go, we’ll be starting soon. We should get some dinner tonight” Thomas said turning around  
Neil smiled in reply but didn’t actually agree. He wanted to have dinner with Claire tonight.   
The session went well although it felt like it lasted forever. Once it wrapped up Claire looked over at him. “If you want to have dinner with him tonight you should” she said feeling like maybe he didn’t answer on her account. 

“No, it’s fine” Neil replied as they got up.   
“Neil! Dinner tonight?” Thomas asked.   
Neil glanced at Claire, “Sure”  
Thomas looked over at Claire, “Dr. Browne you can join us if you’d like” he offered.   
You could almost see Neil perk up at the suggestion.  
“Oh, thank you so much. I’ll let you guys catch up though. I need to put together some notes on all this new information” she smiled.   
“I’ll wrap this up and meet you in the lobby?” Thomas asked.   
“Sounds good” Neil agreed.   
Neil and Claire walked through the vendors to waste some time.   
“You should come” Neil told her hoping she’d change her mind.  
“I want to sort through some of this information, I’ll be fine” she smiled.   
Neil wanted to touch her but refrained. He took a deep breath. “Ok, it won’t be the same though”  
“You’ll miss my brilliance, I know” she smirked.   
Neil gave a half smile and shook his head.   
“I’ll see you.. later” he told her as Thomas waved to let him know he was ready. 

Claire went upstairs and looked through some of her notes. She was happy she came to the conference there was so much information and hands on experience she was getting. She still wasn’t totally sure what was going on with Neil or how to approach it. He made her feel things she had never, ever, felt. He was right though this was complicated.   
Neill and Thomas had drinks at the bar waiting on a table for dinner. They reminisced about old times and laughed at old ideas they thought they were certain of. They caught up over dinner and discussed the conference.   
“So, you and Dr. Browne?” Thomas asked curiously  
“She’s a colleague” Neil said taking a bite of his food  
“Colleague?” Thomas mocked  
“Yes” Neil replied.  
“Hmm.” Thomas responded with a laugh.   
“How are Shelly and the kids?” Neil asked changing the subject.   
Dinner went on for a while and it was getting late. They got back to the hotel and Neil was eager to get back to the room. He opened the door and noticed the lights were off. Claire had gone to bed, it was just after 10 pm but she must have been tired. He was disappointed, they never got to talk about what this meant. Not that it would be an easy conversation to have.   
He let out a deep breath as he loosened his tie. Should he take the couch, or would it be appropriate for him to climb into bed with her? He stood there and debated for a moment. He rubbed his temples to try and ward of this headache. Maybe a shower would help with some clarity.   
Finishing the shower, he quietly came back into the room. He looked at Claire on the bed and smiled. As much as it hurt he decided to take the couch, he didn’t want to push her and they hadn’t even talked about the most recent events. She didn’t want to go to dinner, it could be that he had cold feet. He unfolded the blanked on the couch and sat down. He went to reach for his phone on the table but knocked it off instead making a louder than intended noise as it hit the tile floor.   
The noise woke Claire who sat up and looked around.   
“How as dinner?” she asked sleepily  
“Good” he replied “Sorry I woke you”   
“Oh you’re fine” Claire smiled.  
“I’ll be quiet. Promise” he chuckled  
“You aren’t coming to bed?” she asked  
“Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute” he told her leaving it at that. Sitting the phone on the table and connecting it to the charger he went over to the bed and climbed in with her. She turned to face him and kissed his lips softly.   
“I missed you” she said kissing him again as she tugged at his bottom lip  
“mmmm. I’ve been dying for a kiss all day long” he admits his hands roaming her body  
She lets her hand travel down to his boxers.   
“Is that all you were dying for?” she whispers in his ear amplifying the effect of her words.   
He laughed as he positioned himself on top of her. “I wouldn’t say all” he laughed as he kissed her neck.


	9. Challenges

“What else have you missed?” she asked with a giggle  
“mmmm” he responds kissing her neck  
“I missed these” he says as his hands caress her breast, his thumbs rubbing over her nipples.   
“Mmmm” she moans biting her lip  
“I missed” he begins kissing the valley between her breast and making his way down her stomach until he gets to her hip bone and pushes here shorts down, “this spot here” he tells her moving his tongue over her hip causing her to buck towards him.   
“Then” he says with a wicked grin that makes Claire smile back. “Then there’s this” he says rubbing his hand over her warm p*ssy.   
“Neil” she says digging her heels into the bed.   
“I missed this too” he says before flicking his tongue over her  
“F*ck it taste good” he says as he dives his tongue inside her  
“F*CK” Claire exclaims  
“You may have amazing surgeon hands but damn that tongue!” she says as she grabs the sheets  
“hmmm” he says pressing his lips against her.   
“OH, Neil” she says her hands grabbing a handful of hair.  
“So, you like my tongue better than my d*ck?” he asks teasing her  
“I didn’t say that” she laughs  
“What did you say” he asks his tongue running over her p*ssy.   
“this” he asks repeating his actions or…  
“this” he asks rubbing the tip of his d*ck over her wet p*ssy.   
“Mmmm. Both” she replies  
“But what if you had to choose?” he asks his fingertips running down her body  
“F*CK ME” she demands   
“So impatient” he laughs as he grants her desire but slows his pace.   
She manages to flip him over so she’s on top and grins as if she’s won a battle as she begins to ride him fast and hard. Her hands pressing against his chest as her body moves up and down. He’s got one hand in her hair and the other on her breast as he sits up to tease it with his mouth.   
“Ahh…” she says almost squealing. He sits up buries his face in her neck as he meets her in a hot ecstasy.   
They fall asleep shortly afterwards. They both know they need to talk about this but neither of them want to deal with the reality. 

The next morning, they went downstairs separately for breakfast but shared the same table. Jason walks over and takes an empty seat beside them. 

“Good Morning” he smiles  
“Morning” they both reply.   
“What did you think of Dr. Adams from San Francisco?” Jason asked  
“Dr. Who?” Neil asked   
“You know, the guy who always walked around so high and mighty every year? Tall, dark hair” he explained  
“That doesn’t narrow it down much” Claire laughed  
“He had the blonde that followed him around everywhere last year, remember?” Jason asked  
“Oh!! Yeah, I remember that guy” Neil replies patting his hand on the table.   
“Apparently he’s on administrative leave because he was banging one of the hospital residents and his wife found out about it and blew the whistle.” Jason said with a laugh  
Claire’s eyes widened as she momentarily stopped chewing the pastry she had just taken a bite of.   
Neil shifted in his chair. “Damn”   
“Yeah. The resident was kicked out of the program and is now threatening to sue the hospital, it’s crazy” Jason explained.   
Claire glanced over at Neil and felt sick. Was this their future?  
“That’s why you don’t screw residents at your own hospital, or you stick with nurses” Jason added  
“Pfft” Claire shook her head  
“Hey, same goes for you. Keep it in mind” Jason replied  
“Our session is about to start; we better get ready to head inside” Neil said changing the subject.

Claire was quiet as they walked in. Neil didn’t say much either. He needed to carefully consider his words before they talked about it. Their situation was different, he wasn’t married first of all. Neil regretted not talking about the past couple days with her this morning. At least if he had it wouldn’t feel like he had so much to explain. 

There were a million thoughts going through Claire’s head. She hadn’t considered what would happen if things didn’t work out. She didn’t have the best relationship track record even those that were not romantic. 

The morning sessions went by quickly and during the afternoon there were “team building” exercises and they were each on different teams. Neil considered asking Jason to swap teams with him but it would only make it seem suspicious. That on top of the fact that he knew Jason was interested in Claire drove him nuts and made it hard to concentrate on anything. 

After the sessions there was a dinner planned and they had about an hour between sessions ending and dinner beginning. They took the elevator upstairs to get changed. Thankfully no one else was getting off on their same floor. 

Walking in Claire sat down papers on the desk and took off her shoes for a minute. Neil sat on the end of the bed fidgeting with his hands. “Wanna talk about it?” he asks, his voice low  
“Not really.” She answered not looking at him. 

“I think we should” he responds 

“I’m just not ready yet. I need some time. I’m going to go freshen up some” she replied as she headed towards the bathroom.   
Neil hung his head. A few minutes later he knocked lightly on the bathroom door. 

“I’m going to head downstairs. I have my phone on me” he said hoping she’d open the door. 

“Ok, thanks” She replied from the other side, her voice sounding like she had been crying. 

It hurt him to see her hurt. If letting go meant that she could avoid that he was willing to do it. He didn’t know how he would but he knew he would for her. 

After dinner he talked to various people for a little bit before heading upstairs. Claire was still downstairs chatting. He took a shower and then got his things together since they would be heading out in the morning. He figured Claire wasn’t going to want to talk so he decided to try and go to sleep prior to her coming up in order to avoid any awkwardness. He arranged his pillow on the couch and grabbed the extra blanket. 

Claire stayed downstairs in an effort to avoid the inevitable conversation they were going to have. There were still too many unknowns and questions for her to make an actual decision on how they should move forward. There was an obvious option, but she wanted a way around it.   
She talked with a few different people, most that Jason had introduced her to. They winded up having more drinks and even doing some shots with a few other doctors and nurses that specialized in cardiology. Claire was more than just tipsy by the time she decided to head up stairs. 

“Let me get you up to your room” Jason offered  
Claire giggled. “I’ve got it. Really. I do” she said holding up her hand  
“You. Stay here” she instructed “besides, that red head has been eye’ing you” she replied louder than she thought.   
“Ok, well text me and let me know you get to your room or I’ll go looking for you” he replied  
“Got it” she answered with a thumbs up.


	10. Drunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more additional short chapter for today :)

Claire got to the door of her room and texted him. She pulled out her room key and grabbed the door handle, but it didn’t open. She tried again and pulled the handle but the same result.   
“Ugh” she groaned and pulled the door again before hitting it. 

Neil was only half asleep and heard someone trying to open the door. He got up and looked through the peep hole and saw Claire wiping a card on her top as if she were cleaning it so the reader would register it. He opened the door just as she was trying the handle again and she stumbled forward grabbing his arms. 

“Oh!” she said as he caught her waist.   
“You ok there?” Neil chuckled  
“The damn reader wouldn’t take my card” She said annoyed holding up the card  
“That could be because it’s a gift card for Starbucks, but just a guess” Neil replied.  
“What?” she looks at the card “Ugh. Is it hot in here? It feels hot doesn’t it?”   
Neil chuckled, she was drunk.   
“No, it’s not hot” he answered as he tried to help her in.  
‘I’ve got it. I’ve got it” she said sounding slightly annoyed.   
“Ok” he stepped back  
“You know, there were some very interesting doctors down there who have had crazy stories” she explained as she turned around towards him and finished removing her shirt. She reached her arms around to unzip her skirt and was having trouble.   
“Can you get this?” she said turning around and pointing at the skirt “Please”   
Neil stood for a second unsure how to respond.   
“Please, I can’t get it undone. I guess I could cut it off” she replied  
“I’ve got it” he took a couple steps forward to meet her.   
Reaching his hand up he unzipped her skirt. As he did she leaned her head back onto his chest.   
“Thank you” she said in a sexy breathy voice  
Neil swallowed hard and kept telling himself she was drunk and he shouldn’t take advantage of that.   
Claire lifted her head and pushed down her skirt bending at the waist to remove it.   
Neil stood frozen.  
Claire looked over towards the couch and saw the blankets and pillow where he had been laying.   
“Did I wake you up?” she asked her hand over her mouth  
“No, I wasn’t really asleep yet” he responded as he focused.   
“Oh” she smiled as she walked over to the couch and sat down.   
“Here let me help you to the bed” he offered   
“I don’t want to go to bed” she replied mischievously  
“Want to watch tv?” he asked grabbing the remote and sitting beside her  
“No really” she answered as she unhooked the back of her bra  
“What do you want?” he asked looking over at her not only in a pair of black lace panties  
“I want to just enjoy this. Tonight.” She said climbing on to his lap.   
“Claire” he replied but was interrupted as she kissed him  
His hands roamed her back as they kissed, his mouth moving down her neck.  
“MMmmm Neil” she moaned as she rocked against him   
He lifted his head from her neck, “Claire, you’re drunk” he said trying to compose himself  
“And I want to be f*cked” she almost growled   
Neil Melendez may have been an upstanding gentleman but how was he supposed to stop this?   
“Don’t you want to f*ck my p*ssy? It’s so warm and wet for you” she teased  
She grabbed his hand and slid it in her panties leaning into his ear whispering “feel it. Don’t you like it?”   
“Yes” he answered   
“Your d*ck would like it even more” she teased seductively  
“You’re so bad” he said trying to clear this fog from his brain  
“I think you like me bad, actually I know you do” she giggled her hand groping him  
“We should talk about things” he tried  
“I’m trying to talk to you, I just don’t want to use words” she replied getting frustrated.   
“Claire” he said again his hips on her thighs trying to minimize their movements  
She opens the button of his boxers to release his d*ck now stroking it with her hand.   
“Ooooh hold on” he says grabbing her hand  
“You obviously want this too” she grins.   
“I’m not denying that” he replies  
“Ok then” she says pushing her panties to the side and sliding him inside of her moving up and down  
“OH F*CK” he yells his hands grasping her hips and rocking into them  
“Yeah. It feels good” she moans bouncing up and down  
He licks her nipple as she grips his shoulders.   
“F*ck me” she says riding harder  
He flips her to her back and thrust into her  
“Yes… yeah….. ooo yes” she moans arching her back  
He falls on top of her as they breathe heavily.   
“Mmmmm.. that’s what I needed” she smiles   
“Glad I could assist” he chuckles as he moves to sit up.   
They sit in quiet for a minute and he looks over to realize she’s asleep.   
Scooping her up he moves her to the bed. He decides to lay beside her for just a minute but winds up falling asleep as well.


	11. Back Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delays in this :). All of your feedback is greatly appreciated!

Claire woke up the next morning with an awful hangover naked in bed. She looked beside her and was alone.   
“Omg” she thought to herself looking around the room trying to identify if it was hers.   
She laid back on the pillow realizing that was after seeing the couch with a blanket and her suitcase in the corner. The sound of the door clicking caught her attention and she looked over as Neil entered carrying a yogurt, banana and coffee. 

“Morning sleepy head” he smiled  
“Morning” she smiled back sheepishly.   
“How’s your head?” he asked handing her coffee  
“Hurts” she huffed  
“Here’s some aspirin” he offered as he told her “we have about an hour before we have to leave.”  
Claire nodded and prayed he didn’t bring up last night. He went to walk around downstairs so she could get her stuff together. He decided to let her take the lead on this. If she wanted to talk about it they would and if she didn’t… then he would have to find a way to bury his feelings in a deep dark hole. 

Their ride to the airport and flight were quiet. The couple times they did talk was just a reference to the conference sessions themselves. Once off the plane they waited at baggage claim for their bags to come through. His came out first but he waited for her. 

“I’m fine, you can go if you want my bag should be out any minute.” She told him just before she saw her bag come out of the carousel. 

“Did you drive?” he asks

“No, I’m going to grab an Uber home” she smiled looking away

“I can give you a ride” he offered

“No, that’s ok. I’ll be fine” she replied

He stood there for a moment wanting to fight her on this and how silly it was but also not wanting to push her. 

She could see the hurt and disappointment in his face. 

“Ok, I um, will see you Monday then” he forced a smile and she could feel the walls going up around him.

“Are you sure it wouldn’t be a big deal or out of your way?” she asked 

“No problem at all” he replies the hope evident in his voice.

“Ok” she shrugged as she started to follow him. She realized she kept putting herself back in this cycle but seeing him hurt made her hurt too and she would do whatever she could to get around it. 

He stuck his bags in the trunk followed by hers and went around to open her door.   
“Oh, thank you” she smiled.  
Getting in the car she moved a picture frame out of the seat. It was a black and white photo of the fountains in Las Vegas with colored highlights in it. She remembered the night they were in Vegas and went to see the fountains. Neil’s door opened and she gently sat the frame down in the floorboard.   
“Thanks for giving me a ride” she smiled and tried to thaw the ice that seemed to be between them.   
“No problem” he smiled as he pulled out of the parking lot.   
They drove mostly in silence unless she was telling him where to turn. 

“You know, we’re not them, right?” he finally says after thoughts are bouncing around in his head.  
“What?” she asked lost in her own thoughts  
“We’re not them. The doctor in San Francisco” he explained  
“Oh. Hmph” she replied looking at him briefly before focusing out the window.   
He wasn’t sure what else to say. They pulled into her apartment complex and he got out to help with her bag.   
“I can my bag” she said as he opened the trunk.   
“Let me at least get it out for you” he offered. 

Their hands brushed as he sat the bag down and it sent chills down her arm. They stood there for a moment as he looked at her and she looked around trying to find words to say. 

“I guess I will you see you Mon..” he began before she interrupted

“What if it doesn’t work out? What happens then? Can we work together?” she asks now focusing on him. 

“Who says it won’t?” he replies

“I don’t have the best track record” she said fidgeting with her hands…”not to mention we’re not supposed to be doing it in the first place”

The second part stung a little. He knew they weren’t supposed to have a relationship and it’s something that typically he would never ever do. He’s tried though and denying what he feels just isn’t working. 

“I” he started as he tried to think of the best answer, “I don’t know, but I think the question is, is it something worth finding out?” he replied. 

Claire nodded. “I just need some time” she replied uncomfortably.   
Neil brushed her hair back from her face with his hand. “It’s ok” he tried to console her despite his heart hurting. 

He kissed her forehead, “I’ll see you later.”   
“See you later” she whispered back.


	12. Avoiding Reality

He turned to leave and she grabbed his hand stepping closer and placing her hands on the side of his face to kiss him. She hated to see him leave and before she even thought it out her lips were on his. His hands ran up her back as her body melted into his. He wrapped his arms around her waist to prevent the overwhelming urge to start removing her clothes right there in the parking lot. 

She pulled back, “Can we pretend, for just a little longer?” she asked her eyes meeting his. She didn’t know how to handle the situation they were in but wasn’t ready for him to leave just yet.   
“Yeah” he told her kissing her once more. He grabbed her bag and they headed inside. 

Her brain tried to convince her this was a bad idea as they made the short walk to her apartment, but her heart refused to give in. She turned at the door to ask if he was sure but before she could his lips came crashing on hers. As soon as they got in the door clothing was coming off and made a trail to the bedroom. It was as if they hadn’t seen each other in forever and couldn’t wait to get reacquainted. 

Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest, and he was taking his sweet time teasing her. He could tell she was getting frustrated and he secretly enjoyed it. Suddenly she flipped over so that she was on top and grinned at her accomplishment. She leaned down and kissed him tugging at his bottom lip as she pressed her body against his. 

He closed his eyes and moaned as she sat up and slid him inside of her. 

“Oh” she said moaning with her head back as she began to move up and down. 

He watched her body, in amazement at her beauty. She pressed her hands against his chest as she picked up the speed. Catching that he was so focused on her she ran her hands from her hips up to her breast squeezing them and moaning as she watched. His mouth seemed to move involuntarily wanting to taste her skin as well. 

“Claire” he moaned as she rode harder. He reached up and grabbed her breast squeezing them as she leaned her hands back on his legs but before she knew it he had maneuvered to be on top of her. She wasn’t going to admit it, but she loved it when he did that. 

They laid in bed together when the silence was interrupted by their stomachs growling. They both laughed.   
“Guess we worked up an appetite” he joked.   
“I’ve got some take out menu’s in the kitchen, I’ll grab them” she smiled.   
They ordered food and took a shower while they waited. “I’ll help you soap up” he offered as she turned on the water.   
“I don’t think our showers conserve any water” she laughed as they got out. It definitely winded up being a longer shower than if they had taken one separately.   
“The food should be here” she commented as they walked to the living room. She opened the front door to see it in plastic bags.   
“Oh, I guess it did get here and we didn’t hear it” she laughed as she brought it inside. 

They spent the evening watching movies and talking about new technologies and procedures from the conference. It was nice to have someone who fully understood. 

“It’s getting late” he said as she sat beside him with her head on his bare shoulder. He wasn’t sure if she’d want him to stay the night or not but wanted to give her an out if she didn’t.   
Claire felt a panic inside. She wasn’t ready for this to end. She kissed his neck. “Is that code for I want to go to bed or I’m ready for another round of sex?” she asked saucily. 

Neil laughed. “Think you can take another round?” he asked joking  
“Oh I can take whatever you think you can give” she replied as he reached over and tickled her sides. 

The next morning, they woke up and while Neil made eggs, she made toast. After breakfast they cleaned up the dishes. 

“I guess I better head home” he said reluctantly. 

Claire frowned. “Back to reality” she sighed. 

Neil took her hand. “I have had an amazing time with you the past few days. Whatever you decide you want to do I’ll completely respect. I understand it’s not an easy decision. We have to decide though, I can’t be halfway in with you- you deserve more than that.

A tear ran down her cheek. If it was just about the two of them there’d be no question, but it wasn’t. He wiped the tear and kissed her tenderly. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow” he smiled squeezing her tightly before leaving.


	13. Claire’s Decision

Neil looked up from his desk and saw Claire walking into the lounge. She gave a quick smile to the other residents sitting at the table. He wanted to wait a few minutes before going in as not to make anything uncomfortable. 

“How was your vacation with Melendez?” Morgan asked condescendingly

Park chuckled.

“Wasn’t a vacation Morgan” Claire replied rolling her eyes

“But it wasn’t all work, right?” Park asked

“Ok, you got me. We didn’t go to the conference we just had mind blowing sex for 4 days.”

Morgan and Park sat shocked at her outburst.

“I, was uh, just kidding with you” Park replied

Melendez opened the door from his office and walked in. He knew something was going on but wasn’t sure of the details.

“It was just a joke” Morgan replied

Melendez looked at them, “Everything ok in here?” he questioned

“Fine” Claire replied

“Yeah” Park and Morgan both agreed.

“I better get started on my rounds” Claire said getting up. 

Neil watched suspiciously. 

“How did things go last week?” he asked the others

“Good, nothing overly exciting” Park replied.

“What about you? How’d the conference go?”

“It went well. There was a lot of information on procedures and new equipment” Neil replied.

“Guess we better get to rounds too” Park commented pushing himself back from the table quickly followed by Morgan.

Shaun sat back in the chair. He looked over at Melendez. “Is it true you and Claire had mind blowing sex?” he asked. “And was it weird after having sex with Dr. Lim?” he added to make it even more awkward that it already was.

“What?!” Melendez asked shocked at the question. “What are you talking about Shaun?”

Shaun could tell by the reaction he received that Claire was being sarcastic in her earlier reply. 

“Nothing” he replied quickly standing.

“No Murphy, where did you get that from?” Melendez asked so that he could go and rip the head off of the person spreading rumors.

“Claire” Shaun answered

“Claire? Dr. Browne Claire?” Neil clarified

“Yes. Morgan and Park were giving her a hard time about the conference and she said you got me, we had mind blowing sex for 4 days” Shaun explained

Neil pressed his lips together tightly trying not to laugh. 

“I think it was sarcasm” Shaun added.

“Yeah. So please do not spread that information around” Neil told him as he stood there with his hand on his hip.

“Understood” Shaun replied as he quickly exited the room.

Claire avoided Neil for most of the day which he took as a bad sign but did his best not to read into it. Maybe she was busy, maybe she didn’t want to talk about it there. He convinced himself there were multiple reasons that it happened. He was very careful and conscious not to push it though.

He saw her sitting in the lounge doing research and considered going around to his office or avoiding it completely a little longer but found himself walking in the door anyway. She looked up as she heard someone enter. He could see the surprise in her face and that she was unsure about talking to him.

“Hi. I um, was just doing some research” she said gesturing at the screen.

He nodded. “So” he began, and she felt her stomach turn in knots knowing she should have gone elsewhere to do some research.

“Shaun asked me about our mind-blowing sex last week” he said his hands resting on the chair in front of him trying to keep a straight face.

Claire’s face turned completely red and she threw her hands over her face.

“I… Morgan and Park were harassing me.. and I..” she tried to explain visibly flustered.

Neil laughed and headed towards his office. Just as he reached the door and pulled it, she spoke up.

“I can’t do this” she said her back still towards him.

“Do what?” he asked thinking she meant whatever research she was doing.

“Us” she answered turning around.

He felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He looked around to insure they were alone.

“What do you mean?” he asked holding his breath without realizing it.

“It would be a never-ending drama series here. We can’t go to a conference as co-workers and have people not talk can you imagine every time we were out of people’s sights?” she replied

“It may be a big deal at first, but it would die down. People would find something new. Not that we even have to tell anyone” he said hoping she’d change her mind.

“I’m sorry” she told him, tears in her eyes as she turned and quickly left. 

Neil clenched his jaw fighting his emotions. Looking up to keep tears from falling himself. He wasn’t sure it had ever hurt quiet like this before. 

“Dr. Melendez, the patient in 302 is complaining that the pain meds aren’t working” a nurse said sticking her head in the door. 

“Administer it via IV and let me know” he instructed pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Ok. You ok?” the nurse asked concerned.

“Yeah, just a migraine” he replied.


	14. Excuse me, Nurse?

The next couple of weeks were nothing less than awkward as he and Claire tried their best to push through. They barely made eye contact and were only around each other when absolutely necessary. Park blamed Morgan for pushing Claire and therefore causing her to avoid Melendez which caused him to be grouchy and short tempered. 

Neil knew he had to move on and this time it wasn’t as easy as throwing himself into work. After all, she was a big part of his work. He had a friend who had wanted to set him up on a blind date that he kept turning down but maybe it was time. He asked Park about the restaurant he really liked downtown when his wife was last there on a visit. 

Lexie was 35, worked in investments and had an outgoing personality. She was intriguing and they got along well. The next day when he walked into the lounge with what was now a rare smile.

The residents all noticed but Claire tried not to stare. Park spoke up, “Date go well?” he asked

Claire’s head instinctively shot up and looked over. Neil felt slightly embarrassed, “um, yeah. The restaurant you suggested was perfect” Neil smiled even though he felt sick on the inside as he went into his office.

“What?!” Morgan asked looking over at Park.

Claire felt her heart sink.

“I told him about the restaurant I took my wife to downtown the last time she was here” Park smiled feeling accomplished.

“Apparently it worked out and he got some because the grouch appears to be gone” Morgan laughed.

Claire got up and left the lounge. She caught Neil’s eye as she exited and even though he didn’t do anything wrong he felt horrible. There was nothing he could do now though.

Claire walked into the stairwell and cried. It hurt more than she thought it was going to. “Ugh” she let out as she wiped her eyes. “Get it together” she told herself. To make things even better, she was on Melendez’s service this week along with Morgan.

During surgery Morgan was making small talk. “So, what about your new lady? Tell us about her” Morgan pried.

“It was one date” Melendez answered trying to shrug it off.

“Do you like her?” Morgan asked as Claire just kept her head down.

“Suction” he called

“There’s a great dessert place over off 5th Street you should totally try, if you go out again” Morgan stated.

Claire couldn’t wait for the surgery to be over it was like torture. Neil tried not to flaunt his dating in an effort to protect Claire, but there was a piece of him that felt like she had made her decision. 

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” He said as he continued to work.

The next day Neil left work early, presumably for another date. 

“He must like her if he’s leaving early. He never does that” Shaun commented as Melendez exited.

“He’s been in a much better mood that’s for sure” Morgan chimed in.

“What do you think Claire?” Park asked trying to see where she was at with it.

“I think I’ve got patient symptoms I’m trying to figure out and don’t have time to wonder about my attending’s love life” she replied.

The following week Claire was at the nurse’s station in her scrubs when a woman came off the elevator. She was dressed in business attire, was pretty but had an air of arrogance about her.

“Excuse me, nurse?” the woman asked

Claire looked up as she was the only one there.

“Can you tell me where I can find Dr. Neil Melendez?” she asked

“Um, sure... may I ask why you’re looking for him?” Claire asked

“I’m his,” she paused “girlfriend” she said with a giant smile. “I just brought him some lunch”

Claire wanted to knock her over. She didn’t even seem like his type. She had a short bob hair cut and looked like she could be related to Cruella DeVille or Anna Wintour. 

Claire nodded and stood with a quick “follow me” as she led her to his office. 

She opened the glass door, “Dr. Melendez, someone is here to see you” she said as she felt her throat burning in an effort to hold back her emotions. She refused to say that his girlfriend was there.

Neil looked up and saw Lexie.

“Hey” he smiled nervously. 

She walked over and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Claire turned and walked away wishing she could find a hole to crawl into to die.

“This is a surprise” he said as she pulled back.

“I was in the area, and decided to stop by” Lexie grinned

“The nurse was kind enough to bring me to your office” she added

“Nurse?” he questioned

“Yeah, the one with the curly hair” she nodded

“She’s actually a doctor” he corrected

“Oh. She was at the nurse’s station” Lexie replied pulling out the food.

After lunch Neil walked her downstairs and ran into Claire coming out of the cafeteria. She smiled politely as she walked.

“Hey” he called out to get her attention. “I apologize about Lexie, she was confused and called you a nurse” he told her.

“No worries, it happens” Claire shrugged wanting to just get away

“Claire” he said touching her shoulder

“I’ve got to go get some blood work from the lab” she told him so that he would drop whatever conversation was in his head.

“Ok” he frowned. He still battled mixed feelings of feeling horrible and wondering why he should care at all if she doesn’t like it. It was her decision after all and he was getting tired of walking on eggshells. In fact, the more he thought about it the more annoyed he became at the fact he was still trying to be so nice bout all of it.

In his bitterness he became less secretive about his life outside of work and more open, whether it was talking about dinner or what movie he saw the night before. 


	15. What will be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You’ve made it to the end :) I really hope you’ve enjoyed it ❤️

“You must really like Lexie” Morgan commented one morning after Melendez shared his previous evening adventure about dinner and a play in town that they saw.

“Yeah. I do” he smiled looking at his iPad. “Her birthday is coming up so I am trying to figure out what to do” he shared. 

“Jewelry is always a good idea” Morgan said chipperly

“Special Dinner?” Park chimed in

“Yes romantic evenings are always a good idea” Shaun added as though he had become an expert on the topic.

Claire sat at on the sofa looking at a journal as it seemed to get awkwardly quiet in the room. She was always the only one that didn’t comment. 

“There’s a restaurant that opened about 45 minutes away, it’s not super fancy but they have outdoor seating with little dock that looks out over a lake and has the little lights overhead. I think I heard that sometimes they have live music also. There’s little shops and things near the restaurant too that are in walking distance that could be fun also” she said not looking up from the journal. 

You could have heard a pin drop it was so quiet with the room’s shock that she commented. Neil sat in his chair looking her way doing his best not to let his mouth fall open as he the pen he had been fidgeting with was now frozen in his fingers.

“That sounds amazing. How’d you find it?” Morgan asked

Claire looked up, “I uh, saw it one time and it just looked like it might be nice to try with someone” she said shrugging it off quickly.

“Well, um, thank you all for the suggestions. It’s probably time to get ER rounds started” Neil said as he sat the i-Pad down. Claire was finishing up her note on the journal she was reading as the others headed out. She got up to grab her white coat when Neil couldn’t stop himself from asking-

“What was that about?”

“What?” she asked confused

“Your dinner suggestion” he replied

“I was just saying. Everyone else had commented and I didn’t want to seem rude” she answered knowing it wasn’t the full story. She had seen the advertisement for it when they were in San Diego in a magazine and they talked about how nice it looked with an underlying insinuation that maybe they’d check it out.

“Hmm” Neil replied

“Oh I’m sorry I didn’t know I was supposed to stay out of it. You’re the one who brought up the topic” she said offended

“I never said you couldn’t comment” Neil shot back

“It’s what you hmm implied” she rolled her eyes

“My hmm implied it was awfully ironic that we had looked at that restaurant and you are mentioning it” he said irritated.

“I was just trying to not be the outcast I’ve become since you want to share your personal joys constantly” she replied

“You don’t get to be mad at me when you made the call” he said defensively

“Not mad” she replied with a stone-cold look as she left the room.

Neil never wanted to punch something so badly. She was under his skin and although he thought he was moving on it was obvious he wasn’t there yet.

************************************

Claire was running late, she had been so tired recently and hit the snooze button one too many times. She got into the locker room and threw her bag inside. When she tossed it inside it caused an extra box of tampons she kept in her locker to fall out. When she picked them up she realized that it had been a while since her last period which was typically pretty regular. She grabbed her phone to look and see when the last one was shocked to see that it had been nearly a month and a half. Panic ran through her body as she tried to remember if maybe she’d made a mistake. He phone buzzed with a message from Alex asking where she was, they had a patient. She shut the locker and quickly headed upstairs.

There were a million thoughts going through her head making it hard to concentrate. She couldn’t do this. Not now. And if she was, then it was his and how was she going to do that? She walked into the lounge where Melendez and Park were about to exit.

“Nice of you to decide to join us” Melendez said 

Park didn’t say anything, although he did enjoy her not being Melendez’s favorite resident.

“I’m sorry” she replied as she followed them.

After meeting with their patient, they went back into the lounge to set up and discuss the scenario. Alex seemed to be throwing things at the wall hoping one would stick which even on a good day worked Claire’s nerves. 

“That could leave her paralyzed, don’t you think it’s a bit risky?” Claire asked

“She needs results and this is her best option” Park replied

“Ok, but why not try and address one issue see how it works and then the other?” Claire argued

“Because it will take too long, she’s got a job that won’t be held for her and she wants to get back to it” he explained

“So you’re concerned for her well being or you want to use her as a lab rat?” Claire shot back

“We’ll go with Park’s idea” Melendez said, “get her prepped”

Alex grinned and headed out as Claire sat angry. 

“Really? You don’t think it’s overly risky and irresponsible? Or is it just your way of getting back at me?” she asked the anger evident in her voice

“You are way out of line” Neil replied

“I’m asking a legitimate question” she answered defiantly

“I’m going with what I think is best Dr. Browne, either accept it or you can watch from the gallery” he said standing.

“Fine. I’ll take the Gallery” she replied smugly

Neil didn’t know what to say. He definitely didn’t see that coming. 

Claire felt sick and wasn’t sure if she actually was or if it was in her head. The not knowing was making everything so much worse. Maybe she should leave since she wasn’t doing the surgery so she could take a test. After getting some water she went back to tell Melendez she needed to leave.

“You leave and you’re off my service permanently” he responded

“What?!” she asked

“You heard me. You chose the Gallery, you can either watch from there or if you want to leave you can but you’ll be off my service” he repeated

“That’s not fair” she told him

“You’re not going to leave just because you’re angry and want to pitch a fit” he said as he got up to get ready for the surgery.

Since she couldn’t leave to get a pregnancy test she decided to take some blood and have the lab run it. 

“This is for a Jane Doe. I need a full panel including pregnancy ran” she instructed. “It’s a priority so if you could do it asap” she added.

She then headed into the Gallery late which she was sure he’d complain about later. Neil saw her when she came in and although he was still mad he felt relieved that she didn’t leave. When the surgery was almost over she got a page that her results were in. She wanted to leave but knew she’d be in trouble. There was suddenly an issue causing the patients blood pressure to rise that meant the surgery was going to last even longer. They weren’t able to address the second issue the patient was having due to her not being stable enough when they tried. 

“We’ll have to figure something out. Close her up” Neil instructed as he let Park finish. Once he left Claire exited the Gallery and headed to the lab as quickly as she could. They gave her the results envelope and she walked down the hall and opened it up to look.

Her heart dropped like it was falling from a rollercoaster and tears welled up in her eyes. As she tried to process the information her Melendez paged her so she did her best to pull herself together and head upstairs.

“Where did you go?” he asked looking at her

“I had something from the lab to pick up” she replied as she studied the board

Neil shook his head. “Our patient still needs our help”

They went over the symptoms again wondering if something was missed.

“Maybe we should do one more MRI” Alex suggested

“Let’s do it and see if we missed something” Neil replied.

Claire sat looking at the board. Her eyes looked red and dazed. Alex went to schedule the MRI.

Neil studied her for a second, “If you aren’t feeling well and need to go you can” he said now wondering if it was more than her being angry.

“I’m fine” she replied her mouth twitching “I just need some air” she said getting up to head towards the balcony.

It was obvious there was more to this. He gave her a minute before following her out. It was dark out on the balcony. She was looking out as he opened the door. “I’m sorry, I haven’t handled things in the best way and I apologize” he told her. 

“It’s ok” she managed to say her voice reflecting that she had been crying. “It’s not you, it’s me” she told him.

He opened the door to walk back inside and give her space when something inside him considered maybe space wasn’t what she needed. 

Claire heard the door open and assumed he went inside when she couldn’t hold it in any longer and her shoulders slumped over as the tears poured out. 

“Claire” he said walking up beside her.

She quickly stopped crying and wiped her eyes.

“I thought you” she said as she nearly gasped for air “went inside” she gasped again “I’m sorry. I’m fine” she said doing all she could to pull it together.

“What is it?” he asked concerned as he placed his hand on her arm.

She shook her head as if saying no.

He put his hand on her upper back and rubbed it trying to console her. His phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket. It was Lexie, they were supposed to have dinner tonight. He stepped over to the side and answered.

“Hey, yeah, I’m sorry I’m not going to be able to make dinner I had a surgery come up” he explained.

“Ok, talk to you later, bye” he said hanging up.

“You should go. I’m fine. Park and I will see if we can come up with something” Claire said wiping her face

“No. it’s fine” he replied. “I know I’m probably the last person you want to talk to but something is going on and it would probably help to get it out” he told her.

She pulled the white envelope out of her coat pocket. 

“What is that?” he asked

“I, um” she started but wasn’t sure she could continue “I remembered this morning that it had been a while since my last period” she explained

He felt his stomach turning into knots as he hung on every word that she was saying.

“I drew my blood and dropped it off with the lab right before the surgery” she continued

“What did it say?” he asked as the suspense killed him.

She broke down again as she tried to answer.

He didn’t want to jump to conclusions but it was difficult.

“It was negative” she said holding out the envelope.

He was pretty sure she said negative but opened the envelope to check. She seemed very upset for that to be the case.

“I was so scared when I was waiting. I didn’t know what I’d do or how to handle it. I’ve thought about kids but one on my own?” she said shaking her head as she wiped her eyes. 

“And then I got the results, and my heart just broke. I should have been relieved but it hurts so bad” she said crying again.

“I wish you had told me” he said still holding the paper

“That would have went over well. Hey, I know you have a girlfriend and all but I might be pregnant with your baby. If you were mad about the restaurant suggestion your head would’ve spun around at that” she laughed at the irony.

He hung his head, he had over reacted when she mentioned the restaurant. “I’m sorry for my reaction to the restaurant suggestion, I shouldn’t have” he said as a tear fell in the dark

“Don’t. You were right. I was mad and made a jab. But after that I definitely couldn’t mention this and I shouldn’t have now” she replied taking a deep breath.

“You know, that if you were I’d be there with you every step” he said putting the paper back in the envelope. 

“I just don’t know why it hurts so much, I should be relieved” she said taking the envelope

“I don’t know. I do know that I understand and even though it was a much shorter time that I thought it was a possibility the fact that it isn’t makes me sad.” He admitted staring over the balcony.

She looked over at him surprised. 

“I love you, I wish I could turn it off but I can’t. I would have been ecstatic to have a kid with you” he admits

“I love you too” she says placing her hand over his.

“I’m not trying to ruin your relationship, but if it doesn’t work out… I’m here” she told him resting her head on his shoulder. “We’d just have to keep it quiet” she said wondering if it was too much to add.

“I’ll let her know tonight” he said wanting to kiss Claire but waiting until he had ended things with Lexie.

“If you aren’t sure please don’t just do this for me” she said wiping her face.

“I’m sure” he replied

“Ok” she smiled feeling a sense of happiness that had been alluding her.

Although she was still afraid of what the outcome would be, it was a scenario she could live with much more so than having to watch him move on with someone else and her look back when she’s 80 thinking about the thing she missed out on.


End file.
